White Tower (Tower of London)
The White Tower is a central tower, the old keep, at the Tower of London in England. It was built by William the Conqueror during the early 1080s, and subsequently extended. The White Tower was the castle's strongest point militarily, provided accommodation for the king and his representatives, and housed a chapel. Henry III ordered the tower whitewashed in 1240. Today the Tower of London is a museum and visitor attraction. The White Tower now houses the Royal Armouries collections.
The White Tower seen from the southeast. To the fore is the projection housing the apse of St John's Chapel.
Nighttime shot of the White Tower.
The 15th-century Tower in a manuscript of poems by Charles, Duke of Orléans (1394–1465) commemorating his imprisonment there. The white forebuilding to the left of the duke was demolished in 1674. (British Library).
The Royal Armouries still have displays in the White Tower. This suit of armour belonged to Henry VIII.
A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the castle fall to an adversary. The first keeps were made of timber and formed a key part of the motte-and-bailey castles that emerged in Normandy and Anjou during the 10th century; the design spread to England, Portugal, south Italy and Sicily. As a result of the Norman invasion of 1066, use spread into Wales during the second half of the 11th century and into Ireland in the 1170s. The Anglo-Normans and French rulers began to build stone keeps during the 10th and 11th centuries, including Norman keeps, with a square or rectangular design, and circular shell keeps. Stone keeps carried considerable political as well as military importance and could take a decade or more to build.
The Norman (c. 1126) keep of Rochester Castle, England (rear). The shorter rectangular tower attached to the keep is its forebuilding, and the curtain wall is in the foreground.
Reconstructed wooden keep at Saint-Sylvain-d'Anjou
The Norman keep at Colchester Castle in Essex, built in a Romanesque style on the foundations of a Roman temple
The Norman keep (r) and prison (l) at Goodrich Castle, built to a square design in the early 12th century