The Tower of London was founded by William The Conqueror in 1066-1067. In the 1000 years since then it has served as a royal palace, prison, fortress, armoury, place of execution, mint, jewel house and an early zoo, a menagerie - and today a tourist attraction. The first part of the Tower to be built was the White Tower, the central building.
Originally The Tower was protected by the old Roman city walls. In the early periods there were wooden buildings around the White Tower.
The original purpose of the Tower was to protect London from Danish attackers - vikings - and to dominate the London City with its sheer size and strength.
When Richard I came to power in the late 12th century, he soon after left for a crusade to the Holy Land, and left his chancellor in charge of his kingdom. The chancellor, William Longchamp, then undertook numerous expansions of the Tower, which by 1350 had laid the basis of the Tower we know today.
In 1843 the moat was drained and filled in. During World War I the Tower was for a short period again a prison and execution place for spies. During World War II Rudolf Hess sat in The Tower for 4 days in May 1941, and the filled moat was used to grow vegetables.
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