It’s an extraordinary fact that for more than 600 years the Chapel of St. John the Evangelist in the Tower of London was used to hold important documents. It has to be conceded that there was probably no safer place in London for them.
The 11th century chapel situated on the first floor of the White Tower was built for William, the conquering Norman king. However, by the 13th century the chapel was used less frequently until it became a repository for documents of national importance.
The chapel was restored in the 1860s and once again became a place of worship, used initially by non-conformist and Catholic members of the Tower’s community. It is now used by all members with regular monthly services.
Today the beautiful chapel is on the sight seeing tour and it is sometimes difficult to find the peace and quiet in which to appreciate the building. But visitors are suitably awed and generally more subdued when they come across the breathtaking Romanesque architecture with soaring columns and vaulted roof.
From May to November 2025 the Tower of London is yet again the setting for a national war memorial.
More than 30,000 ceramic poppies, made by the artist Paul Cummins, are displayed cascading from the Tower. Cummins and designer Tom Piper were the same team responsible for the Blood Sweat Lands and Seas of Red installation at the Tower in 2014 to commemorate the centenary of the beginning of WWI.
The new installation to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII symbolises ‘a wound at the heart of the Tower’ which itself was hit by a bomb during the London Blitz on October 5, 1940, killing two people.
The installation opened on May 6 and will remain open until November 11. Visit https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/whats-on/tower-remembers-2025/#gs.lrc6ji for further details.
Radnor Street Cemetery 