Life, death and worship at his Majestie’s Tower of London: excavations outside the Chapel Royal and Royal Peculiar of Saint Peter ad Vincula

Hawkins, Alfred J., Faillace, Katie, Madgwick, Richard ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4396-3566 and Siddell, Jane 2025. Life, death and worship at his Majestie’s Tower of London: excavations outside the Chapel Royal and Royal Peculiar of Saint Peter ad Vincula. Archaeological Journal 10.1080/00665983.2025.2491919

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Abstract

The Tower of London is the example par excellence of a royal Norman fortress and the foremost heritage attraction in the United Kingdom. The Tower is, ceremonially, a royal palace with two working chapels designated as Chapels Royal and Royal Peculiars, places of worship exempt from episcopal authority. These are the eleventh-century chapel of Saint John the Evangelist within the White Tower, and the sixteenth-century chapel of Saint Peter ad Vincula within the Inner Ward. In 2019,the building was subject to a re-examination of its history prior to small-trial excavations outside the western entrance. These excavations encountered a lime mortar surface, possibly relating to the development of a thirteenth century chapel built by Edward I, cut by three graves dating to c. 1370–1550, from which the remains of three individuals, and disarticulated charnel, were exhumed. These remains have, through funding via the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society Research Fund, become the first excavated from the Tower to be subject to modern radiocarbon and multi-isotope analysis (14C, δ13C, δ15N, δ34S, δ18O, and 87Sr/86Sr). This work provides new insight into the development of the chapel, the Tower community, and sets a framework for future excavations involving human remains within the fortress.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > History, Archaeology and Religion
Subjects:	C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CC Archaeology
Publisher:	Taylor and Francis Group
ISSN:	0066-5983
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	6 June 2025
Date of Acceptance:	2025
Last Modified:	11 Jun 2025 10:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/178869

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