Instead, the tower was an imposing palace that also served as a treasury, an armory, a menagerie, a public record office, and even a royal residence. While the Tower is arguably best known for its long list of unwilling residents, the tower’s function was never solely as just a prison for England’s most famed or notorious defendants. The interior grounds also served as a place of execution for prisoners who were too noble or important for a public beheading, which includes Anne Boleyn, whose execution site is marked with a solemn statue.
Over the centuries, new elements of the tower would be added or “tacked on” to the initial tower, including the Inner Ward, which was built in the 1190s, and the Wharf-facing expansion, which was constructed in the late 1300s.ĭuring its tenure, the Tower of London served as the temporary accommodations for a lengthy list of famed London prisoners including Sir Thomas Moore, Anne Boleyn, her daughter Elizabeth I years after Anne’s death, Lady Jane Gray, and Sir Walter Raleigh. The Tower of London was officially built in 1078 by William the Conqueror, and was used as a prison from 1100 until 1952, when it housed the notorious gangsters, the Kray Twins.
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