On our first “free Sunday” when we could choose where we wanted to attend church, I decided to go to the service at the Tower of London. We had just toured the Tower of London the Friday before, and I really enjoyed being there. It is one of my favorite visits that we have done in London. And, it is free to get in for the church service on Sunday, whereas there are high admission fees if just going in as a tourist.
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| This is the Tower of London |
The chapel at the Tower of London is very small with stone floors and walls with pretty decorations and artifacts of history within its walls. It holds an organ that is over 400 years old and has the most pipes of any organ in the UK, if I remember correctly. It was played to accompany any singing done by the choir of ten people or congregational singing. When we entered the chapel, we were greeted by the priest wearing his robe, and handed a Book of Common Prayer, a hymnal, and a bulletin by a lady wearing a beefeater’s uniform. There were probably about 50 people in attendance. The Chapel Royal at the Tower of London is an Anglican church—it wouldn’t be anything else since it is at a Royal Palace (by the way, the Tower of London is not home to any royals anymore, but it still considered a working royal palace). The service was very liturgical with readings from scripture, choir songs, and recitations from the Book of Common Prayer, as well as congregational singing and a short lesson from the main minister. I really enjoyed the choir’s singing—it was beautiful!
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| This is the Chapel Royal. No photographs are permitted inside the Chapel. |
Who might be a regular attender of the service at the Tower of London? The beefeaters, who are the guards at the Tower of London, also live at the Tower with their families, so much of the congregation consists of beefeaters. But, as we did, anyone is welcome to it, and the ministers greeting us as we left were very gracious and glad that we had visited. The priest was very passionate about his position and leading the church to service and fellowship.
I am very glad I had the opportunity to visit this church and would love to visit it again someday.
This is not my video below, but one I found on Youtube. It just shows you in video what the Chapel looks like from the outside and some of the things surrounding it.
--from the desk of Megan Lehmann