It is said in Miss Strickland's _Queens of England_ (iv. 203.), that
there is a tradition at Salle in Norfolk that the remains of Anne Boleyn
were removed from the Tower, and interred at midnight, with the rites of
Christian burial, in Salle Church, and that a plain black stone without
any inscription is supposed to indicate the place where she was buried.
An account of Salle Church, with the inscriptions on the Boleyn
monuments, is given in the 4th volume of Blomefield's _Norfolk_ (folio
ed.), p. 421., but no allusion is made to any such tradition; and other
parts of the same work, where the Boleyns (including the Queen) are
referred to, are equally silent on the subject. Lord Herbert of
Cherbury, in his _History of King Henry VIII._, does not state how or
where she was buried. Hollingshed, Stow, and Speed say, that her body,
with the head, was buried in the choir of the chapel in the Tower; and
Sandford, that she was buried in the chapel of St. Peter in the Tower.
Burnet (vol. i. p. 318.), who is followed by Henry, Hume, and Lingard,
says that her body was thrown into a common chest of elm-tree that was
made to put arrows in, and was buried in the chapel within the Tower,
before twelve o'clock. Sharon Turner, in his _History of the Reign of
King Henry VIII._, vol. ii p. 464., cites the following passage from
Crispin's account of Anne Boleyn's execution, written fourteen days
after her death, viz.:
"Her ladies immediately took up her head and the body. They seemed
to be without souls, they were so languid and extremely weak; but
fearing that their mistress might be handled unworthily by inhuman
men, they forced themselves to do this duty; and though almost
dead, at last carried off her dead body wrapt in a white
covering."
In a letter in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for October, 1815, signed "J.
C.," it is said--
"But the headless remains of the departed Queen were said to be
deposited in an arrow-chest, and buried in the Tower Chapel,
before the High Altar. Where that stood, the most sagacious
antiquary, after a lapse of less than three hundred years, cannot
now determine; nor is the circumstance, though related by eminent
writers, clearly ascertained. In a cellar the body of a person of
short stature, without a head, not many years since was found, and
supposed to be the reliques of poor Anna; but soon after
re-interred in the same place, and covered with earth."
I am informed that the stone in Salle Church was some time since raised,
but that no remains were to be found underneath it. Has the tradition
referred to by Miss Strickland been noticed by any other writer? and
upon what authority does Burnet say that her remains were placed in an
arrow-chest? I may add that Miss S. states that a similar tradition is
assigned to a black stone in the church at Thornden on the Hill: but
Morant, in his _History of Essex_, does not notice it.