Mystery
Anne Boleyn's Heart
Buried by night beneath a slab of black marble?
See it clearly
- What's there
- Lonely hilltop church above the A127
- Legend from
- Tudor rumour
- Tone
- Dark history
That lonely hilltop church by the A127 is one of three that claim to hold the heart of Anne Boleyn.
Anne Boleyn was beheaded at the Tower of London in May 1536 and buried in the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula. Rumours soon spread that her body or heart had been taken elsewhere. One story says her household secretly removed her by night to carry her to Blickling in Norfolk. On the way they stopped at East Horndon and buried her heart in All Saints Church, marking it with a small slab of black marble. The church stands alone on a hill above the A127 and was long the church of the Tyrell family. Erwarton in Suffolk and Salle in Norfolk make rival claims, and no link between Anne and East Horndon is known.