[Illustration: PLAN OF THE TOWER.]




THE TOWER OF LONDON.

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GENERAL SKETCH.

The Tower of London was founded in 1078, by William the Conqueror, for
the purpose of protecting and controlling the city. To make room for his
chief buildings he removed two bastions of the old wall of London, and
encroached slightly upon the civic boundaries. Part therefore of the
Tower is in London, and part in Middlesex, but it forms, with its
surrounding fortifications, a precinct in itself which belongs neither
to the city nor the county. It covers an area of 18 acres within the
Garden rails.

The present buildings are partly of the Norman period; but architecture
of almost all the styles which have flourished in England may be found
within the walls. It is well to remember that though the Tower is no
longer a place of great military strength it has in time past been a
fortress, a palace, and a prison, and to view it rightly we must regard
it in this threefold aspect.