Leaving this chapel and progressing eastwards, the visitor will pass
under St Mary’s beautiful porch into the wonderful chapel built by Henry
VII. This is one of the best examples of Early Tudor or debased Gothic
style, and, consisting as it does of a nave with two aisles, is indeed a
masterpiece of the builder’s art. On either side of the nave are the
stalls of the Knights of the Garter, above which hang their respective
banners. The tomb of Henry VII., the first monarch of the royal house of
Tudor, is the work of Torregiano. The ornamental vaulting of the chapel
is among the finest in the country--its massive pendants being 7 feet
long. Little of the original glass is left, but what remains is in the
windows at the west end. The Duke of Cumberland, known as the Butcher of
Culloden, and George II. and his wife lie in the nave. George III.
discontinued the practice begun by Henry VII. of using this chapel as a
royal mausoleum, having a preference for Windsor. Those two antagonistic
sisters, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth lie in the north aisle, side by
side under a magnificent stone canopy, while at the extreme east end of
the aisle, appropriately called “Innocents’ Corner,” are buried the
remains of the young princes so foully murdered in the Tower. The tomb
of Mary, Queen of Scots, is in the south aisle, together with that of
Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII. Many other interesting monuments
can be seen, including that of Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, Dean of
Westminster, in the south-east chapel, and those belonging to the houses
of Richmond, Suffolk and Lennox. Cromwell was buried in the east chapel,
but his remains were disinterred and dragged to Tyburn gallows.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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