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

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.

Here, Curator of Historic Buildings Alfred Hawkins explains the results of continued analysis of the 2019 excavation, and what they can tell us about life at the Tower.

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

Curators spend our days researching and telling the stories of the people who lived in, visited, worked at, built, or otherwise experienced the palaces in our care. We do this in many ways – through documents, objects, clothes, or the buildings themselves.

These sources can give us incredible insight - painting images that bring historic spaces to life. We must remember though, that these survivals were often made by those who could afford to create a legacy, or were educated enough to document their experience. The lives of most people are lost to us, only now accessible through accounts of workers, tax, or landholding, alongside registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials.

Now, in collaboration with Cardiff University and Historic England, and funded by the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society Research Grant, we have been able to use modern scientific techniques to understand the lives of two people who may have lived, worked, and died at the fortress through the most sensitive record of their lives: their skeletons.

A manuscript with short lines of handwritten text — *Image: Burial Registers 1550-4 from the Register of the Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula: marriages 1580–1752; baptisms 1587–1821; burials 1550–1821. © Crown Copyright Historic Royal Palaces*

The Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula

The Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula was built between 1519-20 and is the burial place of three Tudor queens (Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard and Lady Jane Grey), and two Catholic saints (John Fisher and Thomas More). For most of its history though, the chapel served the Tower community as the parish church – a role it continues today holding regular services, baptisms, marriages, and concerts.

This chapel is one of the oldest and most important buildings at the Tower of London, but 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. Our first step in this process though, was to undertake a trial excavation in 2019.

A church in sunlight — *Image: The Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London. © Historic Royal Palaces*

This trial, undertaken by Pre-Construct Archaeology with the support of Historic England was incredibly exciting, encountering evidence of previously unknown buildings, alongside artefacts such as a fragment of a Roman jet bracelet, and the skeleton of a 17th-century dog – likely a Tower pet. What made this a truly special trial was the excavation of two burials found 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.

Since then, plans have been underway for the installation of the lift. During this time, we’ve also undertaken a collaborative research project with Cardiff University and Historic England through which these two individuals have become the first to be subject to detailed modern scientific analysis – offering new insights into the Tower’s community.

Two people stand around a table assessing a skeleton — *Image: Dr Richard Madgwick and Dr Katie Faillace of Cardiff University assessing the remains. © Historic Royal Palaces*

Learning from human remains

Archaeology is the study of human activity, and there is no source of evidence which can tell us quite as much about an individual as the human skeleton. Through careful and sensitive analysis of these remains, we can draw out a vast array of information and get a rare glimpse into a person’s life.

From these remains, we can determine:

Where they may have been born
When, and how, they were weaned (taken off breast milk and given solid food)
The places they lived throughout their life
Their diet
Diseases they may have suffered from
What kind of work they may have done
And, sometimes, how they died.

When we add this to evidence gained concerning their place and type of burial, we can begin to get a real insight into who these individuals may have been.

This work requires destructive sampling of teeth taken from each individual, alongside small sections of bone. This sampling is considered to be ethically justified by the amount of information we can recover concerning each individual, from a tiny fragment of their teeth.

The most important element of this work though, is to remember that these are real people – and we must ensure the work is undertaken respectfully, preserving the dignity of the dead.

Two skeletons laid out on a table — *Image: The Skeletons following initial analysis by Pre-Construct Archaeology. © Historic Royal Palaces*

The evidence

The first skeleton found in the trial excavation was lying supine (on their back) in an east-to-west orientation – typical for a Christian burial. This person was buried in a coffin – nails were found surrounding the skeleton, and its position, particularly the skull, was consistent with a typical coffin burial.

Detailed scientific analysis revealed that this individual was a female aged between 35-50. She was born outside of London, before moving inland prior to her 10th birthday and finally moving to the Tower of London before she died. Throughout these moves, she appears to have maintained a rich diet, consuming more than was required to stay alive, and frequently consumed sugars – possibly hinting at a higher status life. She probably suffered from arthritis, which adds to our understanding of this woman’s daily life.

The second skeleton was also found lying supine, and on an east-to-west orientation. Evidence from the position of the skeleton showed that this person was more simply buried in a shroud (wrapped in fabric), rather than a coffin. Further analysis showed that these remains belonged to a male aged around 13. He was also born outside of London. He suffered from a period of stress, possibly caused by disease or malnutrition, from which he recovered a short time before his death.

A skeleton partially obscured by earth in a grave

Image: Adult female skeleton (35-50) excavated in 2019. © Historic Royal Palaces

A juvenile skeleton partially obscured by earth in a grave

Image: Juvenile male skeleton (13) excavated in 2019. © Historic Royal Palaces

While radiocarbon dating failed to identify a precise date for the remains, from the stratigraphy (layers identified during the excavation) and pottery found within the fill of the burials, it appears that both individuals were buried between 1480-1550. We can refine this further due to the presence of charcoal in the fill of the grave. This charcoal is probably the result of a fire in 1512, which destroyed Edward I’s 13th-century chapel. This gives us a slightly tighter range of 1512-1550 for both burials – though we expect to be able to revise this date using information gained from the major excavation undertaken this year.

What does this mean?

Through looking at this information in its entirety, we are able to gain some insights into who these people may have been, and how they lived their lives.

The adult woman, whose diet exceeded her needs and included frequent consumption of sugars, was clearly in a stable position, which is also shown through the use of a coffin. While typical today, the use of coffins was not the norm in medieval or post-medieval burials. Instead, they were often reusable objects, used to process the shrouded dead to the place of burial. That this woman was buried within a coffin shows that more time, and money, had been spent on her funeral.

On the other hand, the juvenile male’s diet was not of the same quality. He also suffered from a period of significant stress or disease, which resulted in a reduction in the amount of food he consumed. Though he was able to recover before he died, his burial is also of lesser quality, being buried in a simple shroud. All of this points to him being of lower status than the adult woman.

It is important to note that shrouding, which consists of wrapping an individual in fabric sheet (sometimes called a winding sheet), is the most common form of burial in medieval England. While not as extravagant as burial within a coffin, it does not suggest a lack of care, and it could be that the juvenile male was processed to his burial in a communal coffin, before being removed and buried separately.

Both burials do share some similarities, though. Both individuals were born outside of London and moved throughout their life – showing the community of the Tower to be one likely comprised of individuals from many areas both across England and further afield.

Both of these individuals also show no signs of physical violence, suggesting they were not executed - though the period of stress experienced by the juvenile could conceivably have been due to imprisonment, but there is no direct evidence for this. The most likely answer is that these individuals are both ‘parish’ burials and were members of the Tower of London community.

In addition, both individuals were buried in the same location, which is immediately outside the chapel. Typically, burials closer to the church are more important, with internal burials of even higher importance. This area, close to the chapel but not inside the building, would suggest that they were both reasonably important despite their differences in diet and burial. Their relationship to the entrance of the building may also suggest importance, but the current chapel was built in 1519-20 so they may pre-date its construction and so bear no relation to the Tudor layout.

Next steps

While this work has left some questions unanswered (and even raised new ones!), this newly published analysis, while only concerning two individuals, is groundbreaking. For the first time, we have detailed information about two people who lived, worshipped, and died at the Tower.

The importance of this work stretches much further though. As part of the more recent excavation in 2025, we have excavated over 20 individuals, and our analysis of the first two skeletons forms the basis for future analysis of these remains. Given how much we have been able to learn from the remains of two individuals, we expect our analysis of the archaeological material revealed during this excavation to revolutionise our understanding of the Tower community, providing a wealth of new information about the people who lived and died at the Tower for over 700 years.

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

What two skeletons found at the Tower of London can tell us about the Tudor Tower community