Norman Stone Castle - Tower of London

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Norman Castle

 

A Norman Stone Castle and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Tower of London, which comes with the formal name Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, is a historic monument in London, England. This structure located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets served as prison for royal prisoners, such as the future Queen Elizabeth I, a treasury, zoo, public records office, observatory and home of the Crown Jewels of United Kingdom (composed of the crowns, scepters , orbs, swords, rings, spurs, colobium sindonis, dalmatic, armill, and the royal robe or pall).

The Tower of London has the 90 feet Norman White Tower on its center, built in 1078 by William the Conqueror. This tower and the Inmost Ward are situated in the Inner Ward (with thirteen towers). The Tower of London also includes the Outer Ward (with five towers facing the river) and the Westen Entrance and Moat.

Notable prisoners in the Tower of London include Bishop Ranulf Flambard (1100; the first prisoner), Henry VI of England (1471), Ann Boleyn (1536), Sir Walter Raleigh (1603-1616) and the Kray twins (1053, among the last prisoners).

The Norman Stone Castle–type structure has been often referred in works of fiction. Famous examples are William's Shakepeare's play "Richard III," Gilbert and Sullivan’s opera "The Yeoman of the Guard," and the film Sir Rowan Atkinson's film "Johnny English." Other famous castles in the United Kingdom

are Blair castle, Dunnottar Castle and Bothwell Castle in Glasgow.