THE TOWER OF LONDON

Twelve years after William the Conqueror laid claim to the throne of England the White Tower was founded. The City has always been suspicious of Royal interference and William would have been aware that it would not have been in the best interest of his new regime to upset the applecart since by the time of his arrival the City's importance to the wealth of the nation, and indeed his, required jaw-jaw and not war-war. Nevertheless, the completion of the tower in 1078 was a neat and powerful rounding off of royal power. At the western end of Westminster his kingdom was assured. But at the easternmost end a new palace had been built thus assuring a royal presence at beginning and end of the two cities. This policy had a dual purpose. One : to protect the Normans from Londoners. Two : to protect the Londoners from invaders. Gandolph, Bishop of Rochester was assigned as the architect and the stone was brought from Caen in Normandy. It may be worth mentioning that in the medieval period large scale architecture was carried out by men-of-the-cloth since architecture as a profession was not known at this time. The building was performed by guildsmen under the direction of religious authority.



The Tower of London is often identified with the White Tower, the original stark square fortress built by William the Conqueror in 1078. However, the Tower as a whole is a complex of several buildings set within two concentric rings of defensive walls and a moat.


The Tower's primary function was a fortress, a royal palace, and a prison (particularly for high status and royal prisoners, such as the Princes in the Tower and the future Queen Elizabeth I). This last use has led to the phrase "sent to the Tower" (meaning "imprisoned"). It has also served as a place of execution and torture, an armoury, a treasury, a zoo, the Royal Mint, a public records office, an observatory, and since 1303, the home of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom....



Ravens



It had been thought that there have been at least six ravens in residence at the Tower for centuries. It was said that Charles II ordered their removal following complaints from John Flamsteed, the Royal Astronomer.[5] However, they were not removed because Charles was then told of the legend that if the ravens ever leave the Tower of London, the White Tower, the Monarchy, and the entire Kingdom would fall. Charles, following the time of the English Civil War, superstition or not, was not prepared to take the chance, and instead had the observatory moved to Greenwich.



Though recent research by Geoff Parnell, the official historian for the Tower, has found that the earliest record of ravens at the Tower was in 1895, nobody knows when the ravens were first resident in the Tower or when the legend began. Wild ravens, which were once abundant in London, and often seen around meat markets (such as nearby Eastcheap) feasting for scraps, could have roosted at the Tower in earlier times.



No one can remember the Tower without Ravens, though during the Second World War most of them perished through shock during bombing raids - the sole survivor being a bird called 'Grip'. However, before the Tower reopened to the public on 1 January 1946, care was taken to ensure that a new set of ravens was in place.


There are eight ravens, whose wings are now clipped to prevent them from flying away, and they are cared for by the Ravenmaster, a duty given to one of the Yeomen Warders.


The ravens' names/gender/age are (as of November 2006):



* Gwylum (M/18 yrs)
* Thor (M/15)
* Hugin (F/11)
* Munin (F/11)
* Branwen (F/3 yrs)
* Bran (M/3)
* Gundulf (M/1)
* Baldrick (M/1).



The oldest raven ever to serve at the Tower of London was called Jim Crow, who died at the age of 44.



From : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_London

LONDON WALL

It is not known precisely why London Wall came into being although there are theories. Obviously the purpose of the wall was defensive but the Roman layer was constructed some one hundred and fifty years after the Romans had established their presence in London or Londinium as it was then known. Roman Emperors were not altogether in favour of walled municipalities. Walls were symbolic of exclusion and separate power entities, of separate empires and in a world of intrigue, paranoia and power, the schemata was openness and an army that, with superior strength,guile and tactics should and would be able to overcome any assaults that it was faced with. After Boudicca's revengeful rout around 60AD the Romans exacted a bloody retaliation on Boudicca's army but this was not enough of a reason to build a defensive fortification.

One idea for the building of the wall may be because in the 180s the Scots overran Hadrian's Wall and perhaps with Londinium now established as the Roman capital as well as its importance for imports and exports it may have been too much of a risk to let the town be ransacked again. An alternative theory rests between two Roman generals, Septimius Severus and the governor of Britain Clodius Albinus. Around the 190s they were rivals to the succession as Emperor of Rome. Albinus may have ordered the construction of the wall in order to protect the capital from his opponent although ultimately Septimius was to triumph over his adversary in 197. Fortuitously for Londondinium the combination of the wall and Septimius' leadership stoked a new vigour in the capital's economy and still to this day the City defines itself as one of the most important financial centres in the world, although this status is now changing as the Canary Wharf development attracts the major finance companies away from the olde world.

The wall, perhaps after London Stone, is London's most important extant surviving relic for although there are many wonderful and treasured artifacts of the capital's history residing in museums, only London Wall, existing in its natural setting, gives us the shape of England's and latterly Britain's heartbeat.

The remains of London Wall are a silent witness to the acts that forged a national identity. The secrets of the past are locked within the mortar and stone and yet our sense of preservation at least allows the remaining body of this ancient relic to breathe aided by a strange sense of reverence, our modern day preoccupation with protecting historic sites and a utilititarian approach to tourism. On the one hand expedience caused us to demolish that which was in the way of progress : namely travelling and trade. But also, the continuous decline of a war situation meant that the wall, over time, no longer served its intended purpose.

The Romans allowed for an original six gateways to their roads north, east and west from Londinium. We now know these by their later placenames : Ludgate, Newgate, Aldersgate, Cripplegate, Bishopsgate and Aldgate. Aldersgate was at the western end and Aldgate at the eastern side. Moorgate was added during the medieval period and provides testament to an expanding population as well as commerce and traffic. The gates no longer exist but the thoroughfares do, linking us inextricably to the historical past. On the other hand, what remains exists by virtue of an expedient role call whose name was not called out. For that we can give thanks.

The Saxons superceeded the Romans and archeological evidence argues that the Saxons chose not to live within the City and as a consequence it fell to a ruinous state. They preferred the nearby outer areas such as Aldwych, Charing Cross and even Croydon until Alfred the Great, recognising its strategic importance, reinstigated the City as capital after succesful battles against Viking settlers. Modifications, strengthening and extension to the wall took place in succeeding eras from the later Saxon period, through the Norman presence - where the famous White Tower was added to the eastern end of the wall, and so on to the medival period where crennelations and archery portholes were added. In places post holes still survive within the wall as evidence that wooden platforms were used by sentry patrols always on the look out for dubious visitors. Although once King Alfred had retaken London from the Vikings in 886 it was never to succumb to foreign invaders again.

Roman walls can still be found in other cities in England, and in better condition, but London Wall's importance rests in its historical centrality to the rest of England and its historical centrality to the City of Westminster : power and throne.