THE TOWER OF LONDON

                                                             THE TOWER OF LONDON
The Tower Of London is one of the world's oldest and most famous prisons. However, It's original purpose was to protect London, the Capitol City of the British Empire. The Tower, which is actually a complex of several towers and structures, was built in the latter part of the 11th Century as a fortress.

                                                                THE WHITE TOWER
The oldest structure in the Tower of London complex, the initial construction of "The White Tower" started in 1078 and was completed in 1100, during the reign of King William II. It was designed and built by Gundulf of Rochester, a Norman Bishop. Being made from white limestone (hence the name "The White Tower") imported from Caen in northwestern France as well as a local building material called Kentish Ragstone.

While designed as a battlement, the Tower of London soon found use as a prison. When King Henry I  assumed the throne in 1100, following the assassination of William II, his brother, one of Henry's first acts was to order the arrest of the Bishop of Durham, Rannulf Flambard. Flambard was charged with selling administrative positions in the church for money and became the first prisoner within the Tower of London, though later he escaped.