St Mary's Church, Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire.
The marble tomb containing the rediscovered remains of Katherine Parr is just left of the alter.
During the Civil War both the Parliamentarians and Royalist troops used and variously shelled the castle at different times, leaving it and this small perpendicular church, built around 1460, a roofless ruin. The burial place of Katherine Parr, Queen of England was lost.
By the 18th century the ruins were already attracting sightseers and in 1782 a group of lady visitors noticed an alabaster panel and asked the tenant farmer to excavate it.
A lead coffin was found with an inscription. The body of the Queen within it was in a perfect state of preservation, perhaps due to the many layers of linen that wrapped it and had protected it from the air.
It became famous, and ghoulish interest led to the coffin being repeatedly opened over the following decades, but the damage had been done and the remains quickly began to decay.
The chapel was restored in the 1860s by George Gilbert Scott for the Dent family and rededicated to St Mary. The coffin was finally laid to rest for the last time and a fine marble tomb constructed to the left of the alter.
Sudeley remains the only private home where a Queen of England lies buried.
St Mary's Church, Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire.
The marble tomb containing the rediscovered remains of Katherine Parr is just left of the alter.
During the Civil War both the Parliamentarians and Royalist troops used and variously shelled the castle at different times, leaving it and this small perpendicular church, built around 1460, a roofless ruin. The burial place of Katherine Parr, Queen of England was lost.
By the 18th century the ruins were already attracting sightseers and in 1782 a group of lady visitors noticed an alabaster panel and asked the tenant farmer to excavate it.
A lead coffin was found with an inscription. The body of the Queen within it was in a perfect state of preservation, perhaps due to the many layers of linen that wrapped it and had protected it from the air.
It became famous, and ghoulish interest led to the coffin being repeatedly opened over the following decades, but the damage had been done and the remains quickly began to decay.
The chapel was restored in the 1860s by George Gilbert Scott for the Dent family and rededicated to St Mary. The coffin was finally laid to rest for the last time and a fine marble tomb constructed to the left of the alter.
Sudeley remains the only private home where a Queen of England lies buried.