Chapel Of St Peter Ad Vincula

This is a chapel, known as the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, dating to approximately 1519-20, with substantial restoration work carried out in 1876-7. The chapel is located within the Tower of London. It is constructed with ragstone rendered over, with ashlar quoins and dressings, and has a lead roof. The design is in the Early Tudor style.

The south elevation comprises five bays with hood-moulds over three-light Tudor-arched windows, featuring cinquefoil-headed lights. Similar windows are present on the north elevation, along with a five-light east window. A moulded cornice runs beneath a parapet with moulded coping. The west end features a late 19th-century quatrefoil window above a late 19th-century Tudor-arched doorway, and a flint tower with Portland stone dressings and a late 17th-century wood bell cupola. A vestry was built in a similar Tudor style in 1876-7.

Inside, a four-bay north arcade consists of piers with quatrefoil sections, moulded plinths, and capitals supporting Tudor-arched arcades. The flat tie-beam roofs have moulded beams. The nave includes a squint and a round-arched piscina with sunk spandrels to the west, and an octagonal font with quatrefoil panels. The sanctuary contains a late 19th-century memorial to those executed on Tower Green, and 17th and 18th-century memorial slabs. A memorial dating to circa 1650, commemorating the children of George Payler, features figures set within oval niches. The memorial to Allan Apsley, who died in 1630, incorporates a cartouche on a segmental, open-pedimented aedicule. A plain memorial tablet commemorates Talbot Edward, who died in 1674, while another tablet with a bust remembers General William Bridges, who died in 1716, with the bust set within an aediculed surround. A fine alabaster and marble memorial, dating to circa 1620, is dedicated to Sir Richard and Sir Michael Blount, and is located in the north wall of the chancel. It incorporates groups of kneelers set within a classical frame. There is also a fine alabaster tomb chest with recumbent effigies of Sir Richard Cholmondley, who died in 1544, and his wife, and a memorial to Captain Valentine Pyne, who died in 1677, flanked by cannons instead of columns with a relief carving of a ship at the base. A significant monument to John Holland, Duke of Exeter, who died in 1447 (originally from St Katherin's Chapel, Regent’s Park), features a tomb chest with three recumbent effigies framed within a fine Perpendicular canopy, including angles to spandrels, a frieze with various beasts and grotesques, and carved heads to the cusping. The chapel also houses an organ by Father Schmidt, originally made for the Banqueting Hall, Whitehall, in 1699. Historically, the chapel served as a parish church of the city, later incorporated within the castle walls during the reign of Henry III, making it a rare early 16th-century chapel.