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Öåðêîâíàÿ óòâàðü
During the reign of Charles I silver-gilt Communion plate was presented to the chapel – a chalice and paten in 1629, another chalice in 1637 and a paten in 1638. All the vessels are delightfully simple in design and are engraved with the royal monogram C R, surmounted by a crown. The chalices are older than their date of presentation: one bears the hall-mark of 1559, the other of 1617. It would be fascinating to know the history of the older chalice between 1559 and 1629. The chapel also possessed an alms dish of 1602.
Two items belonging to the Tower are on permanent display among the Crown Jewels. They are a fine, silver-gilt dish, depicting, most probably, Our Lord’s supper with the two disciples at Emmaus on the Easter Day, and a silver-gilt flagon. They were presented to the Constable in 1691, and there is a continuing tradition that they are brought from the Jewel House to be displayed on the altar of St. Peter’s on Easter Day, on Whit Sunday and for the Christmas carol service, the three days in the year when the Yeoman Warders in state dress escort the Resident Governor to the Chapel.
The Ethiopian Cross, behind the altar, was given in memory of those killed in Abyssinia and Eritrea in World War II. The silver came from the Queen of Sheba mines in Ethiopia and was designed by Emperor Haile Selassie’s silversmith. The wood was fashioned from one of the original oak beams from the roof of the White Tower built in 1078. The other processional cross and the silver Communion plate were made by Atholl Hill in 1971, and at about the same time the silver mace, its design based on one thought to have been carried at the Battle of Hastings by King Livery Club. The staves, with silver replicas on the White Tower, were given by the Scots Guards.
An oak memorial in the north wall commemorates the departed Yeoman Warders who have served the Tower since the early nineteenth century and was a gift from the Corporation of the City of London. Hanging above are two pairs of colours once used by two battalions of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers whose headquarter is in the Tower. Another services memento is the ensign of H.M.S. London (1928-49). Framed on the west wall are the colours of the Buffs (the Royal East Kent Regiment) which were carried at the Battle of Punniar in 1843. The Bible on the lectern and the Altar Book were gifts from King George V in 1931, and the Prayer Book on the Chaplain’s stall was a recent present from the Builders Merchants Company.
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
At the north end are iron guns of the early 16th century, including some interesting pieces dredged in 1840 from the wreck of the Mary Rose, sunk in action with the French in 1545.
The heavy spiked club was known as "Henry VIII's Walking Staff." The visitor leaves the Tudor Room by the north-east staircase and descends to the basement popularly called the "dungeons," which, in spite of the romantic tales of prisoners drowned at high tide, is more than ten feet above high water mark. It was vaulted in brick about 1730, and is divided into three rooms, of which that entered from the stair is known as THE MORTAR ROOM.