A+TRIP+TO+LONDON

=__A TRIP TO LONDON__=

-Write something about them and explain why you would choose those places.
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===The Merlin Entertainments London Eye (known more simply as The London Eye, and also known as the Millennium Wheel), at a height of 135 metres (443 ft), is the largest Ferris wheel in Europe, and has become the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom, visited by over three million people in one year. At the time it was erected, in 1999, it was the tallest Ferris wheel in the world, until it was surpassed by the Star of Nanchang (160 m) in May 2006, and then the Singapore Flyer (165 m) on 11 February 2008. However, it is still described by its operators as "the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel" (as the entire structure is supported by an A-frame on one side only).The London Eye is located at the western end of Jubilee Gardens, on the South Bank of the River Thames in the London Borough of Lambeth in England, between Westminster Bridge and Hungerford Bridge. The site is adjacent to that of the former Dome of Discovery, which was built for the Festival of Britain in 1951.It was formally opened by the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, on 31 December 1999, although it was not opened to the public until March 2000 because of technical problems. Since its opening, the Eye, operated by Merlin Entertainments,has become a major landmark and tourist attraction.On 12 August 2009 the London Eye saw another re-brand, this time calling it "The Merlin Entertainments London Eye" to show Merlin Entertainments' ownership. A new logo was designed for the attraction - this time taking the actual form of an eye made out of London's famous landmarks. This also came at the time when the new Merlin Entertainments London Eye 4D Experience pre-flight show was launched underneath the ticket centre in County Hall.Exterior, left, and interior, right, of one of the 32 sealed and air conditioned passenger capsules.During the bidding process of the 2012 Olympic Games, the London bid organisers announced the Olympic emblem would be attached to the Eye for the duration of the 2012 Summer Olympics.On 5 June 2008 it was announced that 30 million people had ridden the London Eye since its opening in March 2000.In 2009 Merlin Entertainments opened a pre-flight 4D Experience at The London Eye, which is included in the ticket price. The newly refurbished ticket hall and 4D cinema experience was designed by architects Kay Elliott working with Merlin Sudios project designer Craig Sciba.===

__REGENT'S PARK__
== **Regent's Park** (officially **The Regent's Park**) is one of the [|Royal Parks] of [|London]. It is in the northern part of central London partly in the City of Westminster.It contains [|Regent's College] and the [|London]Zoo. ==

== The park has an outer ring road called the Outer Circle (4.3 km) and an inner ring road called the Inner Circle. The south, east and most of the west side of the park are lined with elegant white [|stucco] [|terraces] of houses designed by [|John Nash]. The northern side of the park is the home of [|London Zoo] and the headquarters of the [|Zoological Society of London]. When the leases expired in 1811 the [|Prince Regent] (later King [|George IV] ) commissioned [|architect] [|John Nash] to create a masterplan for the area. Nash originally envisaged a palace for the Prince and a number of grand detached villas for his friends, but when this was put into action from 1818 onwards, the palace and most of the villas were dropped. However, most of the proposed terraces of houses around the fringes of the park were built. Nash did not complete all the detailed designs himself; in some instances, completion was left in the hands of other architects such as the young [|Decimus Burton]. The Regent Park scheme was integrated with other schemes built for the Prince Regent by Nash, including [|Regent Street] and [|Carlton House Terrace] in a grand sweep of town planning stretching from [|St James's Park] to Parliament Hill. The park was first opened to the general public in 1845, initially for two days a week. On 15 January 1867, in what became to be known as the [|Regent's Park ice-skating disaster] forty people died when the ice cover on the boating lake collapsed and over 200 people plunged into the lake. Many sports are played in the park including [|Tennis], [|Netball] , [|Athletics] , [|Cricket] , [|Softball] , [|Rounders] , [|Football] , [|Hockey] , [|Australian Rules,][|Football] , [|Rugby]. ==

The Sherlock Holmes museum ==== The Sherlock Holmes Museum is a popular privately-run [|museum] in London, England, dedicated to the legendary detective [|Sherlock Holmes]. It opened in 1990 and is situated in [|Baker Street], bearing the number 221b by permission of the [|City of Westminster] , although it lies between numbers 237 and 241, near the north end of Baker Street in central London close to [|Regent's Park]. ==== ==== The [|Georgian] town house which the museum occupies as "221b Baker Street" was formerly used as a [|boarding house] from 1860 to 1936, and covers the period of 1881 to 1904 when Sherlock Holmes and [|Doctor Watson] were reported to have resided there as tenants of [|Mrs Hudson]. The museum is run by the [|Sherlock Holmes International Society], a non-profit making organisation. ==== ==== The address 221B was the subject of a protracted dispute between the museum and the nearby [|Abbey National] building. Since the 1930s, the [|Royal Mail] had been delivering mail addressed to Sherlock Holmes to the Abbey National Bank, and they had employed a special secretary to deal with such correspondence. The museum went through several appeals for such mail to be delivered to it, on the grounds that it was the most appropriate organisation to respond to the mail, rather than the bank whose primary business was to lend money out on interest. Although these initiatives were all unsuccessful, the issue was finally resolved in 2002 when the Abbey National vacated its headquarters after seventy years, and the mail is currently delivered to the museum. ==== ==== [|Dame Jean Conan Doyle] made clear her lack of approval for the museum when she was asked about it. She was very much against the idea of suggesting that her father's creation was a real person and knew that the presence of the museum would reinforce the idea in the minds of many that Holmes had really existed. This idea was strengthened further by the presence of a commemorative blue plaque on the outside that states the years of Holmes's supposed residency. The plaque is similar in design to those erected by [|English Heritage] but it is not one of theirs as they only erect plaques to people who have really lived. ==== ==== The Museum did offer Dame Jean the opportunity to create a room in the museum dedicated to her father, but this offer was refused, and since then the last remaining possessions of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle have been sold off at auction. ====

===A museum was founded in 1857 under Bennet Woodcroft from the collection of the Royal Society of Arts and surplus items from the Great Exhibition. It was initially part of the South Kensington Museum, together with what is now the Victoria and Albert Museum, but was separated and became the Museum of Patents in 1858, the Patent Office Museum in 1863. This museum contained many of the most famous exhibits of what is now the Science Museum. In 1885, the Science Collections were renamed the Science Museum and in 1893 a separate Director was appointed.The Art Collections were renamed the Art Museum, which became the Victoria and Albert Museum. At this point the Science Collections had to be divorced from the Art Collection due to Queen Victoria’s stipulation that any title bestowed would be for art only. On June 26th 1909 the Science Museum, as an independent entity, came into existence. The Science Museum’s present quarters, designed by Sir Richard Allison, were opened to the public in stages over the period 1919– [DNA reconstruction model built by Crick and Watson in 1953.The Science Museum now holds a collection of over 300,000 items, including such famous items as Stephenson's Rocket, Puffing Billy (the oldest surviving steam locomotive), the first jet engine, a reconstruction of Francis Crick and James Watson's model of DNA, some of the earliest remaining steam engines, a working example of Charles Babbage's Difference engine, the first prototype of the 10,000-year Clock of the Long Now, and documentation of the first typewriter. It also contains hundreds of interactive exhibits. A recent addition is the IMAX 3D Cinema showing science and nature documentaries, some of them in 3-D, and the Wellcome Wing which focuses on digital technology. Entrance has been free since 1 December 2001.The museum houses some of the many objects collected by Henry Wellcome around a medical theme. The fourth floor exhibit is called "Glimpses of Medical History", with reconstructions and dioramas of the history of practiced medicine. The fifth floor gallery is called "Science and the Art of Medicine", with exhibits of medical instruments and practices from ancient days and from many countries. The collection is strong in clinical medicine, biosciences and public health. The museum is a member of the London Museums of Health & Medicine. [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/DNA_Model_Crick-Watson.jpg/180px-DNA_Model_Crick-Watson.jpg]] The Science Museum has a dedicated library, and until the 1960s was Britain's National Library for Science, Medicine and Technology. It holds runs of periodicals, early books and manuscripts.The Science Museum's medical collections have a global scope and coverage probably not bettered in the world. Stephenson's RocketMaking the Modern World is a relatively new gallery, in which some of the museum's most iconic objects, including Stephenson's Rocket and an Apollo spacecraft, are imaginatively displayed along a timeline chronicling man's technological achievements. Flight is another longstanding gallery, up towards the western end of the third floor. Contained in the gallery are several full sized aeroplanes and helicopters, including Alcock and Brown's transatlantic Vickers Vimy (1919), Spitfire and Hurricane fighters, as well as numerous aero-engines and a cross-section of a Boeing 747. One of the most popular galleries in the museum is the interactive Launchpad gallery. Redesigned and reopened in November 2007, the new look gallery houses over 50 interactive exhibits illustrating many different concepts in physical science. The gallery is staffed by Explainers who are available to demonstrate how exhibits work, conduct live experiments and perform shows to schools and the visiting public. [[image:http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/galleries/%7E/media/Images/main/galleries/Flight_gallery%20jpg.ashx]] The Science Museum has developed many touring exhibitions over the years. The Science Box contemporary science series toured various venues in the UK and Europe in the 1990s and from 1995 The Science of Sport appeared in various incarnations and venues around the World. In 2005 The Science Museum teamed up with Fleming Media to set up The Science of... who develop and tour exhibitions including The Science of Aliens, The Science of Spying and The Science of Survival .In 2008, The Science of Survival exhibition opened to the public and allowed visitors to explore what the world might be like in 2050 and how humankind will meet the challenges of climate change and energy shortages.===

__**TRAFALGAR SQUARE**__

===**Trafalgar Square** is a square in central London, England. With its position in the heart of London, it is a tourist attraction and one of the most famous squares in the United Kingdom and the world. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. Statues and sculptures are on display in the square, including a fourth plinth displaying changing pieces of contemporary art, and it is a site of political demonstrations. The name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), a British naval victory of the Napoleonic Wars. The original name was to have been "King William the Fourth's Square", but George Ledwell Taylor suggested the name "Trafalgar Square". The northern area of the square had been the site of the King's Mews since the time of Edward I, while the southern end was the original Charing Cross, where the Strand from the City met Whitehall, coming north from Westminster. As the midpoint between these twin cities, Charing Cross is to this day considered the heart of London, from which all distances are measured. In the 1820s the Prince Regent engaged the landscape architect John Nash to redevelop the area. Nash cleared the square as part of his Charing Cross Improvement Scheme. The present architecture of the square is due to Sir Charles Barry and was completed in 1845. Trafalgar Square is owned by The Queen in Right of the Crown, and managed by the Greater London Authority. Trafalgar Square ranks as the fourth most popular tourist attraction on earth with more than 15 million annual visitors.===

Overview
One of the four lions guarding Nelson's Column

Ten frames of Trafalgar Square shot by Wordsworth Donisthorpe in 1890(1972).



Trafalgar Square, 1908 A 360-degree view of Trafalgar Square just over a century later, in 2009

**__TOWER BRIDGE__**
– north side: Tower Hamlets – south side: Southwark || suspension bridge || 42.5 metres (139 ft) (open) //(Mean High Water Spring Tide)// ||
 * **Tower Bridge** ||
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/Tower_bridge_London_Twilight_-_November_2006.jpg/250px-Tower_bridge_London_Twilight_-_November_2006.jpg]] ||
 * Tower Bridge from the North Bank at dusk ||
 * **Carries** || A100 Tower Bridge Road—motor vehicles, pedestrians ||
 * **Crosses** || Thames ||
 * **Locale** || London Boroughs:
 * **Maintained by** || Bridge House Estates ||
 * **Design** || Bascule bridge ,
 * **Total length** || 244 metres (801 ft) ||
 * **Longest span** || 61 metres (200 ft ) ||
 * **Clearance below** || 8.6 metres (28 ft) (closed)
 * **Opened** || 30 June 1894 ||
 * **Heritage status** || Grade I listed structure ||

The bridge consists of two towers which are tied together at the upper level by means of two horizontal walkways which are designed to withstand the horizontal forces exerted by the suspended sections of the bridge on the landward sides of the towers. The vertical component of the forces in the suspended sections and the vertical reactions of the two walkways are carried by the two robust towers. The bascule pivots and operating machinery are housed in the base of each tower. Its present colour dates from 1977 when it was painted red, white and blue for the Queen's Silver Jubilee. Originally it was painted a chocolate brown colour. Tower Bridge is sometimes mistakenly referred to as London Bridge, which is actually the next bridge upstream. A popular urban legend is that in 1968, Robert McCulloch, the purchaser of the old London Bridge that was later shipped to Lake Havasu City, Arizona , believed that he was in fact buying Tower Bridge. This was denied by McCulloch himself and has been debunked by Ivan Luckin, the seller of the bridge. The nearest <span class="wiki_link_ext">London Underground station is <span class="wiki_link_ext">Tower Hill on the <span class="wiki_link_ext">Circle and <span class="wiki_link_ext">District Lines, and the nearest <span class="wiki_link_ext">Docklands Light Railway station is <span class="wiki_link_ext">Tower Gateway.
 * Tower Bridge** is a combined <span class="wiki_link_ext">bascule and <span class="wiki_link_ext">suspension bridge in <span class="wiki_link_ext">London, England, over the <span class="wiki_link_ext">River Thames . It is close to the <span class="wiki_link_ext">Tower of London , which gives it its name. It has become an <span class="wiki_link_ext">iconic symbol of London.

In the second half of the 19th century, increased commercial development in the <span class="wiki_link_ext">East End of London led to a requirement for a new river crossing downstream of London Bridge. A traditional fixed bridge could not be built because it would cut off access to the port facilities in the <span class="wiki_link_ext">Pool of London, between London Bridge and the Tower of London. A //Special Bridge or Subway Committee// was formed in 1876, chaired by Sir Albert Joseph Altman, to find a solution to the river crossing problem. It opened the design of the crossing to public competition and it was not until 1884 that a design submitted by <span class="wiki_link_ext">Horace Jones, the City Architect (who was also one of the judges), was approved. Jones' engineer, <span class="wiki_link_ext">Sir John Wolfe Barry, devised the idea of a <span class="wiki_link_ext">bascule bridge with two towers built on piers. The central span was split into two equal bascules or leaves, which could be raised to allow river traffic to pass. The two side-spans were suspension bridges, with the suspension rods anchored both at the abutments and through rods contained within the bridge's upper walkways.

Construction started in 1886 and took eight years with five major contractors and employed 432 construction workers. E W Crutwell was the resident engineer for the construction. The total cost of construction was £1,184,000. The bridge was officially opened on <span class="wiki_link_ext">30 June 1894 by The Prince of Wales (the future <span class="wiki_link_ext">King Edward VII ), and his wife, The Princess of Wales (<span class="wiki_link_ext">Alexandra of Denmark ).The bridge connected Iron Gate, on the north bank of the river, with Horsleydown Lane, on the south—now known as Tower Bridge Approach and <span class="wiki_link_ext">Tower Bridge Road, respectively. Until the bridge was opened, the <span class="wiki_link_ext">Tower Subway —400 m to the west—was the shortest way to cross the river from <span class="wiki_link_ext">Tower Hill to <span class="wiki_link_ext">Tooley Street in <span class="wiki_link_ext">Southwark. Opened in 1870, Tower Subway was the world's first underground ('tube') railway, but closed after just three months and was re-opened as a pedestrian foot tunnel. Once Tower Bridge was open, the majority of foot traffic transferred to using the bridge, there being no toll to pay to use it. Having lost most of its income, the tunnel was closed in 1898. Tower Bridge is one of five London bridges now owned and maintained by the <span class="wiki_link_ext">Bridge House Estates, a charitable trust overseen by the <span class="wiki_link_ext">City of London Corporation. It is the only one of the Trust's bridges not to connect the City of London to the Southwark bank, the northern landfall being in <span class="wiki_link_ext">Tower Hamlets. The bridge is 800 <span class="wiki_link_ext">feet (244 <span class="wiki_link_ext">m ) in length with two towers each 213 feet (65 m) high, built on piers. The central span of 200 feet (61 m) between the towers is split into two equal bascules or leaves, which can be raised to an angle of 83 degrees to allow river traffic to pass. The bascules, weighing over 1,000 tons each, are counterbalanced to minimize the force required and allow raising in five minutes. The two side-spans are suspension bridges, each 270 feet (82 m) long, with the suspension rods anchored both at the abutments and through rods contained within the bridge's upper walkways. The pedestrian walkways are 143 feet (44 m) above the river at high tide.

Tower Bridge, looking up-stream, at dusk. The bridge connects <span class="wiki_link_ext">The Borough (Southwark, south of the river, left of picture) to the heart of the <span class="wiki_link_ext">City of London Financial District.
 * Tower Bridge today**

The bridge as seen from City Hall during its 'facelift' (note sheeting on right of picture)

In April 2008 it was announced that the bridge will undergo a 'facelift' costing £4m, and taking four years to complete. The work entails stripping off the existing paint and repainting in blue and white. Starting in mid-2008, contractors will work on a quarter of the bridge at a time to minimise disruption, but some road closures are inevitable. The bridge will remain open until the end of 2010, but is then expected to be closed for several months. It is hoped that the completed work will stand for 25 years. The walkway section of the renovation was completed in mid 2009. Within the walkways a versatile new lighting system has been installed, designed by Eleni Shiarlis, for when the walkways are in use for exhibitions or functions. The new system provides for both feature and atmospheric lighting, the latter using bespoke RGB LED luminares, designed to be concealed within the bridge superstructure and fixed without the need for drilling (these requirements as a result of the bridge's Grade I status).


 * __SAINT PAUL'S CATHEDRAL__**

The very first building was made out of wood, and burnt down in 675 AD. The second was sacked by the Vikings in 962, and replaced by a sturdier edifice in stone.The fourth building – known as Old St. Paul’s – was started by William the Conqueror after the Norman Conquest. It suffered fire damage in 1087, and a further fire in 1136 set the builders back years. It was finally finished 200 years later.Old St. Paul’s was quite an accomplishment in its day. It was the largest medieval building in the whole of Europe, and boasted the tallest spire in the world. It stood solid for several centuries until wear and tear left it crumbling into disrepair. Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries meant it was soon stripped of all decoration, and many of the buildings surrounding the site were raised to the ground.As if all of that wasn’t bad enough, a lightning strike then took out the spire in 1561. James I undertook major renovations, but these were halted during the English Civil War. The final death knell came in 1666, when the Great Fire of London turned it into ash.The apse of the cathedral is home to the American Memorial Chapel. It honours American servicemen and women who died in World War II, and was dedicated in 1958. It was paid for entirely by donations from British people, and was designed, as a modern exercise in the Wren style, by Godfrey Allen and Stephen Dykes Bower. The roll of honour contains the names of more than 28,000 Americans who gave their lives while on their way to, or stationed in, the United Kingdom during the Second World War. It is in front of the chapel's altar. The three chapel windows date from 1960; they feature themes of service and sacrifice, while the insignia around the edges represent the American states and the US armed forces. The limewood panelling incorporates a rocket - a tribute to America's achievements in space. Architecture, designed by Christopher Wren The decision was taken to clear away the burnt-out husk and entrust the rebuild to Christopher Wren. His first idea was for a straight replacement – but this was deemed a waste. His second idea was to build a cathedral in the shape of a Greek cross. His third idea – and the one that we see today – was accepted in 1675 and completed in October 1708.The resulting masterpiece boasts the second largest dome in Europe (after St. Peter’s in Rome) and is the only domed cathedral in the whole of England. St Paul's Cathedral today is a busy working church. Daily services are held every day to which all are welcome to attend. Whilst the Cathedral charges for those who wish to sightsee, it does not charge for people who want to worship. Those attending services at St Paul's do so at no cost. People seeking a place to be quiet and pray are admitted to the St Dunstan's Chapel free of charge. Admission on Sundays for all services is free and there is no sightseeing

Christopher Wren

If you want to enjoy the interior views from the Whispering Gallery, then be prepared for a hefty 259 steps. But once you’re up there, the views are breathtaking. The cathedral’s sheer scale and patterned floor are best appreciated from above. Due to a bizarre acoustic effect (which gives the dome its name) everything said on one side of the gallery can be equally understood on the other.





// TOWER OF LONDON // The White Tower
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The White Tower and courtyard <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Norman chapel inside the White Tower At the centre of the Tower of London stands the Norman White Tower built in 1078 by William the Conqueror (reigned 1066-87) inside the southeast angle of the city walls, adjacent to the Thames. This was as much to protect the Normans from the people of the City of London as to protect London from outside invaders. The White Tower is 90 feet (27 m) high and the walls vary from 15 feet (4.5 m) thick at the base to almost 11 feet (3.3 m) in the upper parts. Above the battlements rise four turrets; three of them are square, but the one on the northeast is circular, in order to accommodate a spiral staircase. This turret was briefly used as the first royal observatory in the reign of Charles II. Completing the defences to the south of the Tower was the bailey.

The Inner Ward
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">

The White Tower and Inmost Ward are situated in the Inner Ward, defended by a massive curtain wall, built by Henry III from 1238 onwards. In order to extend the circuit the city wall to the east was broken down. The wall has thirteen towers: Wakefield Tower — the largest of the towers in the curtain wall. According to tradition this was where the imprisoned King Henry VI was murdered as he knelt at prayer; Lanthorn Tower ; Salt Tower ; Broad Arrow; Tower Constable ;Tower Martin. The Crown Jewels were kept here from 1669 until 1842; Brick Tower; Bowyer Tower; Flint Tower; Devereux Tower; Beauchamp Tower (pronounced 'Beecham'); Bell Tower; Bloody Tower (or the Garden Tower), so named after a legend that the Princes in the Tower were murdered there.

The Outer Ward
Between 1275 and 1285 Edward I (reigned 1272-1307) built an outer curtain wall, completely enclosing the inner wall and thus creating a concentric double defence. He filled in the moat and built a new moat around the new outer wall. The space between the walls is called the Outer Ward. The wall has five towers facing the river. On the north face of the outer wall are three semicircular bastions, the Brass Mount, the North Bastion and Legge's Mount. The water entrance to the Tower is often referred to as Traitor's Gate because prisoners accused of treason such as Queen Anne Boleyn and Sir Thomas More are said to have passed through it. Traitor's Gate cuts through St Thomas's Tower and replaced Henry III's watergate in the Bloody Tower behind it.

Royal Armouries
The Royal Armouries can be traced back the middle ages when armour was manufactured at the Tower for the Kings of England. In 1545, it is recorded that a visiting foreign dignitary paid to view the collection at the Armoury. By the time of Charles II, there was a permanent public display there, making it the first museum in Britain. The Tower was engaged in the development, manufacture and storage of a wide variety of weaponry until the Board was abolished in 1855, however the historic collection remained. Only a small part of this could be displayed and in 1995, much of the artillery collection was moved to Fort Nelson in Hampshire and the following year a new Royal Armouries Museum was opened in Leeds. The Tower still holds an important range of arms and armour dating from the middle ages onwards, notably that belonging to the Tudor and Stuart kings.

Menagerie
A Royal Menagerie was established at the tower in the 13th century, possibly as early as 1204 during the reign of King John, and probably stocked with animals from an earlier menagerie started in 1125 by Henry I Its year of origin is often stated as 1235, when Henry III received a wedding gift of three leopards from Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor. In 1264, they were moved to the Bulwark, which was duly renamed the Lion Tower, near the main western entrance. It was opened as an occasional public spectacle in the reign of Elizabeth I. A lion skull was radiocarbon dated to between 1280 and 1385, making it the earliest medieval big cat known in Britain.

Ravens
It had been thought that there have been at least six ravens in residence at the tower for centuries. The legend of these Ravens in the Tower of London is so important to the people of England that ten ravens (6 on duty and 4 young spares) are actually employed by the Tower of London at the expense of the British government, in return for their service they are treated very well and in deference to the ancient legend and the decree of King Charles II at least six ravens are provided with Raven's Lodgings at the Tower of London. A Yeoman Warder, or Beefeater, has the specific role of Ravenmaster at the Tower and takes care of their feeding and well being.

Torture
Inside the torture chambers of the tower various implements of torture were used such as the Scavenger’s daughter, a kind of compression device, and the Rack , also known as the Duke of Exeter's Daughter. Anne Askew is the only woman on record to have been tortured in the tower, after being taken there in 1546 on a charge of heresy. Lower-class criminals were usually executed by hanging at one of the public execution sites outside the Tower. George, Duke of Clarence, the brother of Edward IV of England , was executed for treason in the Tower in February 1478, but not by beheading (and probably not by being drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine, despite what Shakespeare wrote). The military use of the Tower as a fortification, like that of other such castles, became obsolete with the introduction of artillery , and the moat was drained in 1830. However the Tower did serve as the headquarters of the Board of Ordnance until 1855, and the Tower was still occasionally used as a prison, even through both World Wars. In 1780, the Tower held its only American prisoner, former President of the Continental Congress, Henry Laurens. In World War I, eleven German spies were shot in the Tower. Irish rebel Roger Casement was imprisoned in the Tower during his trial on treason charges in 1916.

Although it is no longer a royal residence, the Tower officially remains a royal palace and maintains a permanent guard: this is found by the unit forming the Queen's Guard at Buckingham Palace. Two sentries are maintained during the hours that the Tower is open, with one stationed outside the //Jewel House// and one outside the //Queen's House//. The tower is fully staffed with 35 Yeomen Warders (also known as **Beefeaters**), at all times, the most senior is titled the Chief Yeoman Warder, and his second-in-command is titled the Yeoman Gaoler, they answer to the Constable of the Tower. Yeomen Warders have served as defenders of the Crown Jewels, prison guards, and, since the time of Queen Victoria , tour guides to visitors, and they have become a tourist attraction in their own right, something the warders themselves acknowledge

Crown Jewels
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt;"> The Crown Jewels have been kept at the Tower of London since 1303, after they were stolen from Westminster Abbey. It is thought that most, if not all, were recovered shortly afterwards. After the coronation of Charles II, they were locked away and shown for a viewing fee paid to a custodian. However, this arrangement ended when Colonel Thomas Blood stole the Crown Jewels after having bound and gagged the custodian. Thereafter, the Crown Jewels were kept in a part of the Tower known as Jewel House, where armed guards defended them. They were temporarily taken out of the Tower during World War II and reportedly were secretly kept in the basement vaults of the Sun Life Insurance company in Montreal, Canada, along with the gold bullion of the Bank of England. <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The Tower of London is reputedly the most haunted building in England. The ghost of Queen <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Anne Boleyn <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">, beheaded in 1536 for treason against <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">King Henry VIII <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">, has allegedly been seen haunting the chapel of St Peter-ad-Vincula, where she is buried, and walking around the White Tower carrying her head under her arm. Other ghosts include <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Henry VI <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">, <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Lady Jane Grey <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">, <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Margaret Pole <span style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">, and the <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Princes in the Tower