Life, death and worship in the Tower of London, Part II

Earlier this year, Historic Royal Palaces curators undertook a major archaeological excavation at the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London. It follows a trial excavation outside the chapel in 2019, and is the most important excavation within the Tower for a generation.

In the second post of a two-part series, Curator of Historic Buildings Alfred Hawkins explores what this major excavation in 2025 might tell us about the chapel’s history.

Content warning: This blog post includes images and text relating to the excavation of human remains.

As a Curator of Historic Buildings, a big part of my job is to ensure the protection and preservation of the palaces in our care – which includes their archaeology. Part of this is finding ways to not perform archaeological excavations, as the process of excavating is inherently destructive – after all, we can’t put the archaeology back when we are done! As a result, major excavations at the Tower of London are a generational affair as we will always try to find a way not to dig.

However, there are exceptions to this rule, and times when we have to undertake an excavation. This year, in order to install a lift providing universal access into the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, we have been required to undertake an excavation unlike anything Historic Royal Palaces has done before – the first major excavation outside the chapel in its history, and the most important excavation within the walls of the Tower for a generation.

The Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula

The Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula was built between 1519-20 as the Tower’s parish church. The chapel is famous as the burial place of three 16th-century queens of England (Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey), and two saints of the Catholic church (John Fisher and Thomas More), alongside innumerable other ‘notable’ individuals. This chapel, however, also plays an essential role as a working chapel holding regular services, baptisms, marriages and concerts.

This building has historically only been accessible via stairs, which has prevented many disabled visitors from visiting this wonderful space. As part of our commitment to improve access for disabled people, we’re installing a lift outside the building. This will create a step-free entrance to the chapel, but has required us to undertake, for the first time, a major excavation outside the building.

A chapel with a small square with grass and memorial structure in the centre. A few winter trees are positioned in front of the building. From asset 47766 — *Image: The Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London. © Historic Royal Palaces*

Planning and research

Working at such a historic site is always complex and any intervention needs to be meticulously planned so that we can minimise our impact wherever possible. We have been working on this project for almost seven years, with research and design work occurring continuously throughout that period. The first stage of works on site though, consisted of a trial excavation outside the chapel in 2019.

This trial was incredibly exciting, providing us with tantalising information regarding the development of the chapel. What made this a truly special trial was the excavation of two burials encountered during the work. This was the first time anyone had excavated complete, articulated human skeletons from within the Tower of London for over 40 years.

These individuals became the first to be subjected to detailed modern scientific analysis, which offered new insights into the Tower’s Community. As ever with trial excavations though, we were left with more questions than answers, which were factored into the planning of the lift installation.

The major excavation

This year, we have begun installing the lift, which has required the excavation of an area over 10 times the size of that in 2019. This offered a truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to understand the development of the site and the people who lived here. The excavation has been led by the Curatorial and Surveyor of the Fabric teams and undertaken by Pre-Construct Archaeology, with support from Historic England.

During this work, the remains of over 20 individuals have been uncovered, alongside considerable quantities of charnel, or disturbed human remains – which is usually the result of the re-use of burial plots. The burials date from the 1200s to the 1600s, providing us with an incredible opportunity to learn about these people and how they lived and worshipped at the Tower across a large period of time. Alongside this, we have discovered lost medieval buildings and an amazing array of artefacts, which help us to build a better image of the medieval Tower of London.

A team of archaeologists sit within an excavation — *Image: © Historic Royal Palaces*

The burials

The individuals that have been excavated during this project have been found in many different types of graves, some of which are of national importance. All have been found on an east-to-west alignment, which is typical for a Christian cemetery.

Most of these individuals were simply shrouded – or wrapped in a fabric sheet, sometimes called a winding sheet - which is the most common form of burial in the medieval period. A significant number of these burials though – including at least four from the 13th century – were in coffins, a rare practice during the period and usually denoting higher status.

The coffins themselves do not survive. However, in one instance, the shadow of a coffin holding a juvenile buried in the 1200s was visible where the wood had been replaced with clay. This shadow allowed us to understand its shape and size. For the most part though, we can only look for the presence of coffins through the survival of coffin nails and the position of the individual skeletons.

We have also encountered a large collection of graves, which appear to date from the 1300s. This group of over six individuals are curious, as they appear to have been rushed; they’re not as organised as the earlier or later burials. To understand why this may be, we have to look at the context. The mid-14th century was a period of great upheaval across Europe due to the presence of the Black Death, a pandemic of bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic plague, caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis. While emergency plague cemeteries were created at West Smithfield (now the Charterhouse) and East Smithfield (near the Royal Mint located just to the northeast of the Tower), local cemeteries bore the brunt of initial deaths.

Given the nature of these burials, it may be that they relate to the Plague or another ‘event’ – but we won’t know for certain until we undertake more detailed analysis in the coming years.

A skeleton seen within a stone surface — Image: Post-1240 burial through a Reigate surface. This surface was created through masons cutting a large quantity of Reigate stone – a type of stone which is often used for decorative elements of high-status buildings - which was subsequently buried. © Historic Royal Palaces

Two skeletons seen partially obscured within an excavated grave — *Image: Two of the individuals excavated from what might be a mass grave. © Historic Royal Palaces*

The most important burial dates from the 1200s, containing exceptionally rare grave goods: charcoal filled pots (known as gravpottes or pottery vessels for purification) which held incense. This burial practice has only found once before in England, and once in Scotland, with the practice being much more common in Denmark and northern France. This could suggest that this individual was not native to England, and left instruction for their burial, or that knowledge of how to treat the foreign dead was held by individuals at the Tower of London.

The artefacts

The Pre-Construct Archaeology team have sieved every piece of earth removed from the excavation, to allow any fragments of human bone to be re-interred into the chapel’s crypt. As a by-product of this essential and meticulous work, we have also recovered incredible artefacts which are missed during most excavations.

We’ve found fragments of burial shroud, which are particularly rare, as textiles normally only survive in anaerobic conditions where there is no oxygen. We have also discovered several personal objects such as sewing and shroud pins, buckles, book clasps, and jewellery. Additionally we have recovered evidence for the architectural development of the chapel including glazed tiles, stained and painted glass, and more – all of which will be studied in more detail over the coming months.

Two pots partially obscured in earth which is part of a grave site — *Image: A rare example of grave goods found in a burial dating from the 13th century. © Historic Royal Palaces*

A hand holding a brown tile decorated with a pale pattern — *Image: Medieval decorative glazed tile. © Historic Royal Palaces*

A hand holding a piece of dark glass — *Image: Medieval painted glass, possibly an 'A'. © Historic Royal Palaces*

A hand holding a small pin — *Image: Medieval shroud pin. © Historic Royal Palaces*

Chapels past and present

One of the most exciting elements of this work has been the architectural elements discovered during the work. The present chapel was built in 1519-20 and holds a legacy of over 500 years of community and worship. However, the chapel we see today is only the most recent building in this location, with three or four preceding it since before William I ‘conquered’ England in 1066. There are no plans or maps of these buildings – the earliest plan of the Tower dates from 1597. There has never been an excavation of this kind around the chapel, so our previous understanding of these structures relied mostly on building accounts.

Engraving of a combined plan and bird's-eye view of the Tower of London prepared in 1597. — *Image: Haiward and Gascoyne 1597 survey of the Tower of London. © Historic Royal Palaces*

Now, thanks to this excavation, we have revealed for the first time the remains of several of these lost buildings. This has revolutionised our understanding of the Tudor chapel, and those that stood before it – helping us to re-draw the map of the medieval fortress.

The earliest deposits we’ve encountered are difficult to date, but in the deepest section of the trench we have uncovered walls and a floor surface. This may relate to the construction of a church outside the walls of the Tower during the reign of Henry I between 1110-1128. This may have replaced an even older chapel building.

Above this is a powered layer of Reigate Stone - a green-grey ‘freestone’ quarried in Surrey (near Reigate!) which is used for details like tracery, columns and window or door surrounds in medieval buildings. This powdered remnant of the stone is the result of masons carving a large amount of the material, which might relate to building works undertaken by Henry III in 1240. Henry III’s works have always been a mystery, as it is not known whether they consisted of a renovation of Henry I’s chapel or a complete rebuilt.

During this excavation we have encountered burials from Henry III’s reign. These appear to have been cut through Henry I’s chapel walls – this suggests that Henry III built a new chapel, and that Henry I’s walls were demolished, surviving only below ground. These elements have, in turn, been partially destroyed by large foundations relating to the construction of a ‘great new church’ by Edward I between 1286-7, which burnt down in 1512.

Above this we have evidence for the construction of the current building in 1519-20, including the re-use of medieval stone. We have also found evidence for the original location of the door to the chapel, which was replaced in 1862, and post holes used to create the Tudor scaffold for the building.

Sections of wall uncovered on the side of a building

Image: Remnants of the previous chapels coloured blue (Henry I); green (Henry III); red (Edward I); pink (Henry VII); yellow (Henry VIII) and orange (Queen Victoria). © Historic Royal Palaces

This is the first major archaeological dig in this part of the Tower of London and has therefore offered an exciting opportunity to understand people who lived at the Tower and the development of the building. Further assessments and analysis on all the finds will now be carried out over the next few years. We hope to uncover even more insight into the Tower’s long history – so watch out for future updates!

Following the completion of this work all the remains will be re-interred with dignity and respect into the Crypt of the Chapel of St Peter – ensuring their continued rest within a consecrated space.

Alfred Hawkins
Curator of Historic Buildings
Historic Royal Palaces

Discoveries from excavations outside the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula