The Chapel Royal & Royal Peculiar of St Peter ad Vincula: Audio-Guided Tour

The first chapel that originated here was a house church in the 9th Century.

The building we see today is likely the fourth Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula to stand here. It has served as the place of worship for the Tower of London community since the 16th Century.

This chapel holds the unique position of being solely used as a place of faith throughout the centuries. It has been a backdrop to the more macabre moments in the Tower's history.

All the other Tower buildings have served multiple purposes as storehouses, prisons and offices.

Look up at the exposed Tudor ceiling built of Spanish Chestnut. It is said that the wood was chosen so that Katherine of Aragon could pray beneath the trees of her homeland.

This chapel is more than the myths that it is most associated with, such as a mausoleum for executed traitors.

In fact, the Chapel is a reflection of community in the fortress and has been a place of worship and celebration at the centre of the Tower for centuries.

This organ, from 1699, was built by Bernhardt Schmidt for the Banqueting House in Whitehall when it was converted to a Chapel Royal following the Whitehall Palace fire.

It was moved to this location in the 1890s.

The Chapel has a wonderful collection of monuments and memorials dating from the 15th Century to present day.


Sir Richard Chomondeley, a former Lieutenant of the Tower, helped to build this building and is entombed here in alabaster, amongst other Tower parishioners.