INTERESTING DISCOVERIES IN THE TOWER OF LONDON

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2569, 2 April 1877, Page 3

INTERESTING DISCOVERIES IN THE TOWER OF LONDON

At the present motu-nt the Office of Works is engaged in c earing out aiul: restrtiing the'cli'iipel within.-■•• c pr-cinctsf 1 of the l!:T"Wer of L"iidon, known as Peter's cid vinrula: ' It was'hert- tlia't th>; state pri>i-''nef}« wh^ who weris behraded on t.h^va !j-Tniug 'hill',^ weife gericraliy interred ;, but ,ac.cnrd"ig to the custtHii, in plain.d,ral-<(.ffinß. pfren . «ith .quickjime <to ii«>ir<}j the; v mpre. raiVidlv. and >i),w'ay» without plate.g,..by whsch fcheir bodie* might be subs* qM-utly idt-ntjified. .;-:.>: .■■,-■■ ■.'■■•■. ■-■■; .■■.-.-

Luckily iat this time,: the ;'ecrefary t? the Office of Workvis a tj^ntlema'i who, by his writings? -.a* w Has by such portions of hia c(ili<;etibns as" havif passed: iritpTthe possession of the South' Kertsing toh'iVfb'gfuni, s'howg himself; t<>* be b'lth a student -anTff^n a)i-ti^tA«»ijd ff iiar owsng his rcvereifr bareVlha^in clesfiing. out the .vaults of the Tower elirtpel the dead hare., ejvi-n up some of secrets. The Tower records . have, .bee,n . earefuHv searched, and the ihfprinati. n., has. been applied to each coffin as it was brought to: light. ' ■;;•. ■.-.;.■ „-■■■'■-. I**. ;■■■■■ :. First almost among them: wasiOne lying: far down "• the nave contaitiing botitfs which, according to the opinion of tlve: surgeon, were those of a woriian of at least sixty five or seventy years of age. The records show that in some such &pot wa* interred the body of Alargaret Polo, rVuntess-;-"of : i whom Henry VJII. caused to be beheaded in 1541. Near the altar, ■*' in a common: elm-tree chest made to put. arrows in,''; were-the | remains of another woman young and delicately 'made, and -■'■ whose ■•/'" lyttel • neck^ "-would igive the head*raah JBo litrle trouble to sever. Th.'se'are almOßt certainly thosei of Anne Soleynv /- r . Not far off tlie digger^ ciime tfjjoti the; remains of what'must have been 'a'man of more; than ordinary, stature; ana on com.' faring epptemvorary c'iruiiicleß,. with the :! offiiriarrecordK, these were iu«i'"nt!fied an,: the. ri-mains of..l>.ud)fy,. Bfke.of iS'orthumT hi rbindi Of his, djuighter, the :unha|>py Lady Ja«<e Grey, no, trace has, an >et, been discovered, and it is fe*red tliat in h"r case ? as probably, in that ,pf many others, the later coine.s have "disturbed tht' resting' places of the "original occupants and as in no ease was tiiefie '&rev tlie pretence of nouor or respect shown to the remains of slate onminals. it is not Lady J»ne (irey and her coffin may have long since been ground to powder. ; ■,''■'■■ ■■•■': '-'."■ Auiong the other persons buried in the chapel may be' mentioned jT'^htr Klliot, the Dukeof Monrhouth. iibh'ert Pevereux, Karl of Kss^'x: nnd't c Lord^Bahnerino. Kilrnarnock. and Lovat, intplicated in the Scottish Tebell on of 1745' It is grati , fyingv too, to ham that t; ere is sonn' hop** that /'this admirable spccirtietr of early r;ingli«h architecture, dating at least as far back as Kdward 11., is likely to be., restored in snmethinij like a fjiiipaijl.iet.if*' spi i.. No historical .iiiorintiieut of real ifi'erest h'lS in the course of ages, suffered more j.from so many in<'Oini>etent "-re-. st'rerK,"...as tiiey are euphemistically termed., than St. Peter's ad vinculay. and we are ghdt<> think the Office of Works is alive to a sense of its responsibility: when dealing with so interl stina a land mark in Eciglish histos'y.—Exchange. •'.;