St Peter's 500th
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The 500th Anniversary of the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula The Chapel Royal of St Peter ad Vincula celebrated its 500th anniversary in 2020. There was a chapel on this site before the Norman conquest, repaired by Henry III from the year 1420 onwards. In 1286 Henry's son Edward I had the old chapel demolished and built a new one which survived until it was largely destroyed by fire in 1512. In 1519 work began under Henry VIII on the Tudor chapel which we see today, where the first service is believed to have taken place on 01 August 1520. 2020 was thus a special year for HM Tower of London but, particularly, for the community that supports the Chapel Royal - a Chapel that represents the spiritual heart of the Tower and the community that live and work here. A remarkable series of events was put together to celebrate this important anniversary, ranging from lectures on the Chapel’s history to special commemorative services and readings, musical concerts and even a flower festival. Unsurprisingly, the programme is dominated by music and a recurring theme of the year was a new hymn written especially by Lord Williams of Oystermouth and set to music by our own Master of Music, Colm Carey. Sadly, most of the events had to be cancelled because of the Coronavirus outbreak but, for the record, you can see below what was planned. Summary:
8 January, 11am 4 February, 7pm 11 February, 7pm 18 February, 7pm 29 March, 11am cancelled because of the Coronavirus pandemic 10 April, 7pm 19 May, 7pm 2 June, 7pm 10-13 June, all day cancelled because of the Coronavirus pandemic 7 July, 7pm 22 July, 6.30pm 8 September, 7pm 30 September and 1 October, 7pm 17 November, 7pm
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