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Memorials
The Cholmondeley Memorial
The Cholmondeley sarcophagus which now stands between the columns separating the aisle from the nave has an interesting story attached to it. Sir Richard Cholmondeley was distinguished military officer who fought at Flodden Field in 1513. Soon after he was appointed Lieutenant of the Tower, he created for himself and his wife a very fine tomb on which he is represented in plate armour, his head resting on a helmet and his feet upon a lion. Close observation reveals that the date of death is left blank in the carved inscription, which supports the view that the Cholmondeleys died elsewhere. No signs of burial were found when Victorians moved the tomb to relay the stone floor in 1876, but they did make a remarkable discovery. In the tomb was the font which now stands by the west door.
The story is that during the Commonwealth, the Tower Chaplain hid the font in the tomb to preserve it from destruction. Presumably, he died before the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and the secret hiding place was unknown for over two centuries. The font is a fine example of early Tudor craftsmanship and experts say that it was almost certainly made around 1490, thus pre-dating Henry VIII’s building. It is possible that it was in the Chapel destroyed by fire in 1512. The font cover is modern and was presented by the City of London Solicitors’ Company.
The Exeter Memorial
In the north-west corner of the Chapel is the Holland memorial. John Holland, Earl of Huntington, was a direct descendant of Edward I and in 1444 was created Duke of Exeter while Constable of the Tower. His tomb was originally in the chapel of the Royal Hospital of St. Katherine-by-the-Tower, but in 1951 when the Royal Foundation of St. Katharine Ratcliffe as it was by then called, moved to east London, permission was given for the monument to be placed in the Chapel Royal and for the reburial here of the casket containing the remains of the Duke, his first wife and, probably, also his sister.
Blount memorial
The imposing Blount memorial is on the north wall of the chancel. It commemorates Sir Richard Blount and his son, Sir Michael, who for short periods were Lieutenants of the Tower during the reign of Elizabeth I, the former until his death in 1564, the latter in the 1590s. Their skulls were placed in niches in the alabaster frieze. One has been verified as genuine but the other must have been lost and was long ago replaced by a plaster replica. One of Sir Michael’s daughters holds a scull, symbolising death, reminding us of the brevity of life and indicating that she died before her father. This symbol and the sculptor’s placing of the hand on her breast, a sign of piety, are typical of the period.
During Sir Michael lieutenancy Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel, was imprisoned for about ten years until his death in 1595. He reproved Sir Michael’s brutality with words: ‘When a prisoner comes hither to this Tower, he bringeth sorrow with him; then do not add affliction to affliction. Your commission is only to keep with safety, not to kill with severity’. Philip Howard’s body was removed to Arundel in 1624 and he was canonized in 1970. On the opposite side of the chancel is a curious mural monument in memory of three of the children of George Payler, Surveyor of the Ordnance under the Commonwealth, and his wife Maria.
The chapel registers of baptisms, marriages and burial date from the second half of the sixteenth century. Nearly all the entries in the baptism and marriage registers concern the Tower staff and their families, but there is an interesting record of the baptism of Sir Walter Raleigh’s second son, Carew, who was born during his father’s second imprisonment in the Tower (1603-16) and baptized in St. Peter’s in February 1605.
Memorial to Talbot Edwards, ‘ye Crown
Keeper’, who helped to rescue the Crown
Jewels from Captain Blood
The burial registers are of greater historical interest. In 1587, we find the name of Nathaniel Patriedge, the Yeoman Gaoler with whom Lady Jane Grey was lodged before her execution. In 1613 there is the entry: ‘Sir Thomas Overbury, prisoner, poysoned; buried the XV Sept’. If, as would appear, the word ‘poysoned’ was written at the time of the burial, it was a remarkable bold entry, for it was not until some time later that the Countess of Somerset, the investigator of murder, and her husband were imprisoned for their part in the crime and the Lieutenant, Sir Gervase Elwes, hanged for allowing it to happen. In 1674 is recorded the burial of Talbot Edwards, ‘ye Crown Keeper’, who was injured when Colonel Blood made his daring, but unsuccessful, attempt to steal the Crown Jewels in 1671. Edwards’ memorial stone is now on the south wall of the chapel.
The following people are known to have been executed on this spot:
1. Lord Hastings, by order of the Duke of Gloucester, in 1483.
2. Queen Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII, 19th May, 1536.
3. Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, the last of the old Angevin or Plantagenet family, 27th May, 1541.
4. Queen Katharine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII, 13th February, 1542.
5. Jane,Viscountess Rochford, 13th February, 1542.
6. Lady Jane Grey, wife of Lord Guildford Dudley, 12th February 1554.
7. Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, 25th February, 1601
Here it is, in the memorable words of Stow, writing in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, that there lie before the high altar "two dukes between two queens, to wit, the Duke of Somerset and the Duke of Northumberland, between Queen Anne and Queen Kathrine, all four beheaded."
On entering the White Tower the visitor finds himself on the ground floor of the building (known as the "Gun Floor") used as a store for service arms between the years 1841 and 1916. The first room is known as THE RECORD ROOM.