Within the Tower is a small church which was erected by king Edward I. and dedicated in the name of St. Peter in chains, commonly called St. Peter within the Tower; who, as appears by the Tower records, in the year of his reign, granted certain rents, at a certain custom of stabotes or

From which and other records it has been collected, that the bounds of this rectory are all the compass of the Tower; and it hath some territories without, as , which was therefore called the king's soil of , adjoining unto which was a. place called the king's waste of , or Hog Lane. But these boundaries, as well as the precinct of the Tower, which contains all the soil or liberty between Barking church and , St. Mary Grace's, and , have been an old controversy between the magistrates of the city, and the officers of the Tower.

This church was formerly a large and spacious building, frequented by the kings themselves for their devotion, and adorned with chancels, shrines, and images; as more particularly appears. from a letter mandatory of the king to the keeper of the Tower works, in the of Henry III. A. D. , for the repairing and adorning of this church, in this form,

The king to the keepers of the Tower works sendeth, greeting. We command you to brush or plaister with lime, well and decently, the chancel of St. Mary, in the church of St. Peter, within the Bailiffwick of our

Tower of London

, and the chancel of St. Peter in the same church, and from the entrance of the chancel of St. Peter to the space of

four

feet beyond the stalls made for our own and our queen's use in the said church; and the said stalls to be painted; and the little Mary, with her shrine, and the images of St. Peter, St. Nicholas, and St. Catherine, and the beam beyond the altar of St. Peter, and the Little Cross, with its images,

[i. e.

of Christ, John, and Mary] to be coloured anew, and to be refreshed with good colours: and that ye cause to be made a certain image of St. Christopher holding and carrying Jesus, where it may best and

most conveniently be done and painted in the foresaid church: and that ye cause

two

fair tables to be made, and to be painted of the best colours, concerning the stories of the blessed Nicholas and Catherine, before the altars of the said saints in the same church: and that ye cause to be made

two

fair cherubims, with a cheerful and joyful countenance, standing on the right and left of the great cross in the said church; and moreover

one

marble font, with marble pillars, well and handsomely wrought. And the cost that for this you shall be at, by the view and witness of liege men, shall be reckoned to you at

the Exchequer

. Witness the king at Windsor, the

tenth day of December

.

This church is not remarkable as a fine specimen of the pointed style, and no part of it is apparently older than the century. It appears to have undergone considerable alteration since the period of its foundation. It was much injured by fire in the reign of Henry the , and it is probable, from the style of architecture at present displayed, that the alterations were made at that period. It consists of a nave and north aisle of equal breadth, with a small tower at the west end of the latter, and a chancel at the east end of the nave. The exterior has been covered by some tasteful improver, with rough cast and oyster shells. In the walls of the tower are many flints, but the angles have been coped with stone, and the oyster shells not forgotten in modern times. The south front has windows with low pointed arches, each made by mullions into lights; the stone work, together with of the windows which had been walled up, were restored a few years since; the mullions have arched heads enclosing sweeps; under of the windows is an entrance which internally has a pointed arch, but the exterior has been altered to a lintel; this doorway is now fronted by a small porch. The east end of the chancel and aisle have each a window of lights, made by mullions and circumscribed by a low pointed arch. On the north side of the chancel was formerly a window, which has been walled up; the south side is entirely hid by buildings, and has no windows; and the west front is also partially concealed. The interior is divided longitudinally by arches resting upon clusters, consisting of columns surrounding an octangular pier, and half clusters attached to the extreme walls; the arches are obtusely pointed; the ceiling rests on beams which divide it into compartments, the spaces being plastered. The aisle and the west end of the nave are occupied by galleries, supported on Tuscan columns, for the accommodation of the military

The fittings up of the church are of the meanest order; it appears to have received but little favour from the hands of government, in occasional white-washing, which is executed in a manner which shews that churchwardens are not the only persons who

daub and smear

Jacent corpora Ricardi Cholmondeley, militis et

dn~e Elizabethe consortis sue, qui

quorum animabus Deus propitietur. Amen.

The knight is attired in a suit of plate armour, with sword and dagger; his head and hands bare; the former rests on a helmet, his hands are clasped in prayer, his gauntlets lying by his side near his feet, which rest on a lion; his lady lays at his left side, her head reclining on a cushion. Much it is to be regretted that this fine monument should be neglected and exposed as it is to every wilful and accidental injury. On the north side of the chancel are monuments affixed to the wall, shewing kneeling figures within Corinthian niches, richly adorned with coats of arms. is to the memory of sir Richard Blount, knight, who died , and has statues of sir Richard, and sons, and his lady, and daughters; the other commemorates sir Richard Blount, son of the above, and has statues of the knight and sons, and his lady, and a daughter. Both these gentlemen were successively lieutenants of the Tower. Near the pulpit is a singular monument, consisting of circles disposed on a cross, containing the bust of the parents, in , and the effigies of children, reclining in the circles. A plain stone on the floor records the name of the courageous Talbot Edwards, who resisted the infamous col. Blood,

Several mural tablets on the north side of the church have been most shamefully built against, and partly concealed by the gallery.

The living is a rectory in the gift of the king, valued at about per annum. The present incumbent is the Rev. William Coxe, archdeacon of Wilts, paid by the king as minister of the Tower garrison, rated in the king's books eighteen pounds . There is no lecturer, nor organ; prayers are on Wednesdays, Fridays, and holidays, about . The rector has no institution and induction, and the living is exempt from archiepiscopal jurisdiction,

This church is remarkable for being the burial place of numerous royal and noble personages, who were either executed in the Tower, or on the hill adjoining, and deposited here as a place of obscurity. Within the chapel in was buried the ill-fated Gerald Fitz- Gerald, earl of Kildare, and lord deputy of Ireland.

On the d of June in the succeeding year, the conscientious prelate, John Fisher, bishop of Rochester, and on the of the next month, the great sir Thomas More, were buried here. In front of the altar repose the remains of the lovely Anne Boleyn, the victim of the tyrant Henry, and her brother George, lord Rochford, who were executed in .

In the same place also are the remains of the guilty Catherine Howard, who fell in .

Here likewise rests the mangled corse of the venerable Margaret, countess of Salisbury, the last of the royal line of Plantagenet.

Within this church also lies the remains of Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, the cherished favourite of the royal vampire Henry the . Baron Sudley, lord high admiral of England, beheaded , under a warrant from his own brother, Edward, duke of Somerset, who followed him to the scaffold and the grave within years. This nobleman is interred between the queens in front of the altar, where also was interred about eighteen months after, the headless corse of his rival, John Dudley, duke of Northumberland.

Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk, beheaded for aspiring to the hand of Mary, queen of Scots; his son Philip, earl of Arundell, who died within the walls of the Beauchamp Tower in this fortress; and Robert Devereux, earl of Essex, the favourite of Elizabeth, are likewise buried here.

Under the communion table was interred James, duke of Monmouth, the natural son of Charles II.; and under the gallery, at the western end of the chapel, were deposited the headless bodies of the

The principal and most ancient part of the present fortress is the citadel or keep known by the name of the

[] Liberat. 25 Hen. III. m. 20.

[] For the ensuing particulars, as well as for other valuable information, I am indented to a friend, whose long acquaintance with the metropolis, joined to great accuracy of observation and correct taste, enables me to give any observation he may make with perfect confidence in its correctness. T.A.

[] The writer of this not long since saw the rite of baptism administered in this church from a slop basin!

[] Subsequently removed and re-interred in Chelsea church.