Tower of London Overview

The Tower of London

The Tower of London has stood by the River Thames for nearly a thousand years. It began as a Norman fortress and grew into one of the most important sites in the country. ⭐ Location, origins and features connect. Where it was built, who built it, and what was built there all help explain why the Tower mattered for so long. ⚠️ On this paper, always name the site. History Around Us answers must name the Tower of London and use its physical features alongside your own knowledge. Keep that habit from the very first line.

Why here, and what was built

Two questions open any site study: why this place, and what stands there. Hold both for the Tower.

Order how the Tower grew

Put the stages in the growth of the Tower of London into order.

• After the Conquest of 1066, a Norman fortress is begun to control London
• The White Tower, a great stone keep, is built in the 1070s and 1080s
• Later kings add rings of curtain walls and a wide moat
• Over the centuries it serves as fortress, palace, prison and more
• Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a major historic site

Who began the Tower, and why

Who began the Tower of London, and why?

• William the Conqueror, to control the newly conquered city of London and overawe its people
• The Romans, as a seaside holiday villa
• Queen Victoria, as a railway station
• The Church, as a cathedral

Words for the site

Five words that let you describe the physical remains precisely, as this paper rewards.

Spot the features of the Tower

Three of these are real physical features of the Tower of London. Choose the three.

• The White Tower
• The curtain walls and moat
• Traitors Gate
• A Roman amphitheatre at its centre
• A modern railway station

Link the site to its purpose

The sharpest answers on this paper do not list features in isolation. They link the site together and tie its physical remains to why it was built and used. Location and origins connect. The Tower stands where it does, by the river at the edge of the City, because it was built to control London and the Thames after the Norman Conquest. Features and purpose connect. The great keep and the rings of walls were built to defend the site and to project royal power. Naming the Tower, using its physical features with your own knowledge, and linking pairs of ideas like these, while signalling the period, is the grade 9 move.

Match each feature of the Tower to what it is

Find the sentence that links the site

A student writes about the Tower of London. Select the ONE sentence that links its location and origins to its purpose.

• The Tower of London was built by the Thames at the edge of the City so that its great Norman keep and walls could control London and project royal power.
• The Tower of London was built for no particular reason at all.
• The location of the Tower of London had no importance.
• The Tower of London was never connected to royal power.

A worked example: reading a building

Think of a grand old bank on a high street: heavy stone walls, a great door, a strong vault inside. You can read its purpose from its place and its shape before anyone tells you what it was for. It sits on the main street to be seen and trusted, and it is built strong to guard what is inside. The location and the structure together announce the job it was made to do. Hold that idea. A site can be read like evidence: where it stands and how it is built tell you why it was made and what it was meant to do.

Complete the description of the site

The great stone keep at the centre is the _____. The strong central tower of a castle is a _____. The defensive walls ringing the site are the _____. The river water-gate for prisoners is _____. A castle with rings of walls one inside another is a _____.

Judge the site as a whole

Which is the soundest understanding of the Tower of London as a site?

• A fortress whose location by the Thames, its origins under William the Conqueror, and its features like the White Tower and rings of walls all connect to explain its long importance
• A building placed at random with no purpose
• A modern building of no historical importance
• A cathedral built for worship alone

What it was built to be, and why it still matters

The strongest answers can move between the site then and the site now, linking criteria as they go.

Answer like an examiner

You are checking three approaches to a History Around Us answer on the Tower. For each, choose the soundest judgement.

• An answer never actually names the site it is writing about. Is that safe?
• An answer says the location of the Tower was unimportant. Is that safe?
• An answer treats the Tower as belonging to only one period. Is that safe?

Write: why the Tower was built where it was

Why was the Tower of London built where it was, and what do its main features show? Use physical features of the site as well as your own knowledge. Name the site, link the location to the features, and signal the period. This is written in English and is not auto-marked.

• Name the Tower of London and its riverside location
• Explain why that location was chosen after the Conquest
• Describe the main physical features, from the White Tower to the walls and moat
• Link the features to the purpose of controlling London and projecting power
• Reach a supported judgement on why the site was so important