Tower of London
2012-07-26 @ 14:00:09
The tower of London is not really a tower. It is, or rather has been a royal palace, a fortress and a prison, and also a place of executions. Its story begins with William the Conqueror. Twelve years after the Battle of Hastings, he decided to build a fortress on the site of the present Tower of London. Its construction took twenty years. it is now at the very centre of the grounds within the outer walls and is called the White Tower. The inner wall with its thirteen towers was built in the reign of Henry III. Various historical facts are associated with those towers. The Bloody Tower got its name from the murder of the Little Princes Edward V and his brother the Duke of York. According to tradition their murderer was the Duke of Gloucester, later King Richard III.
St. Thomas's tower was the prison of Sir Walter Raleigh. In the bell tower sir thomas More was imprisoned and also Princess Elizabeth I, the daughter of King Henry VIII and the future queen Elizabeth I . She belonged to the few lucky ones who left the Tower alive. As you know, it was much easier in those days to get into the Tower than to get out of it. Beneath St. Thomas's Tower, there is a gate called Traitors' Gate witch opens right upon the river Thames. In the old days prisoners were brought to the Tower throught this gate in barges which landed at the foot of the Bloody Tower. Another interesting fact about the Tower is that the Crown Jewels are kept there. In the past they were kept in the Martin Tower and an attempt to steal them was made during the reign of Charles II. Now they are kept in the Wakefield Tower, and attemps to steal them are only made in crime stories. In charge of the Tower and all its treasures are the Yeomen Warders. On important occasions they wear their ver picturesque scarlet and gold Tudor dress.
Westminster Abbey
2012-07-26 @ 13:12:02
Westminster is one of the oldest and most famous parts of London. It is almost as old as the City. And the most famous building in Wesminster is Westminster Abbey. Westminster Abbey in its earliest shape, dates back to the seventh century. A much finer abbey was built in place of the old one in the eleventh century by Edward the Confessor, one of the last Saxon kings before the Norman Conquest. Later it was rebuilt several times. In its present shape it is an example of English Gothic. Its west towers were designed by Sir Christopher Wren. It is no longer an abbey of course. All monasteries in England were dissolved in the sixteenth century by King Henry VIII. But the old name has remained. All the English kings and queens (except Edward V) were crowned in Westminster Abbey. If you visit it you will see the historic chair on which they all sat during the coronation. In Westminster Abbey there were tombs and memorials of several English kings and famous statesmen, writers, musicians, painters and other great men who have left their mark on English history. In 1947 the Battle of Britain Memorial Chapel was built in the Abbey. There is another important tomb in Westminster Abbey sacred to all Englishmen. It is the tomb of the Unknown Warrior. After the First World War the body of an unknown British soldier killed in France was buried there. The Unknown Warrior represents now all the unknown soldiers who died for their country in both world wars
London attractions
2012-07-26 @ 12:41:35
The Houses Of Parliament and Big Ben seen across the river Thames. The official name for the Houses of Parliament is the Palace of Westminster. In its present shape it is not a very old building. There was a palace of the England kings at that place for many centuries in the past, and in the sixteenth century it became also the seat of Parliament. In 1834 most of the building wasa destroy by fire. The present palace was a built soon after that.
When the king or queen opens the new session of the British Parliament in November a very unusual ceremony takes place. The Yeomen yf the Guard go through the vaults of the Houses of Parliament and search them one by one. The ceremony has its origin in the seventeenth century. In the year 1604 during the reign of King James I a group of Catholic conspirators prepared a plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill their Protestant king and all the Members of Parliament with him. They rented a house close to the House of Lords and began digging a tunnel. After nine months of digging they reached the vault under the House of Lords and put in it 36 barrels of gunpowder.
The authorities learned about the plot through an anonymous letter. The vaults were searched. The guards discoverd the gunpowder and found one of the conspirators, a man called Guy Fawkes. He was imprisoned and executed.

London
2012-07-26 @ 12:19:02
London is the capital of England. It is the largest city in Great Britain and one of largest cities in the world. London lies on the river Thames. Its central dictrict lie north of the river. Fourteen brigdes for people and vehicles join the two banks of the Thames. There are also six railway bridges and a railway tunnel under the river. More than eight milion poeple live in London and its suburbs. Thousands of men and women from the surrounding towns and villages travel to their work in London every day.
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