Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey is Britain's foremost religious building and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located next to the Houses of Parliament and a short distance away from Buckingham Palace, the Abbey has been the site of many coronations, royal weddings, state burials and services.

Begun in 1042 as Edward I's burial church while the Confessor was alive but knew his time was approaching, the Abbey was the first church to be built in the Romanesque style. It was consecrated in 1065 and Edward died a week or so later, being buried there in January 1066. The Abbey wasn't formally completed until 1090, by which time William I had invaded and taken control of England by defeating King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings.

Much of the current Abbey dated from Henry III's reconstruction in 1245, who became the first Norman king to select the Abbey as his burial site as well as his coronation. The Abbey survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII as the king granted it special cathedral status, which meant it was no longer considered a monastery. It was attacked by the Puritans during the English Civil War of the 1640s and Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell was buried there, only to be disinterred in 1651 and posthumously hanged at Tyburn (now Marble Arch).

The Abbey's two western towers were constructed from Portland Stone between 1722 and 1745 by Nicholas Hawksmoor. Furhther rebuilding took place under the guidance of Sir Gilbert Scott in the mid-19th century.

The Abbey suffered some bomb damage in the Blitz of 1940, saw the funeral of Lady Diana Spencer in 1997 and on 17 September 2010 Pope Benedict XVI became the first Pope to set foot in the Abbey.

The Nave

When Henry III died in 1272 the building of the Gothic Abbey was not complete and part of the Norman nave remained attached to the new work. The present nave was nearly 150 years in building. It was begun in 1376 by Abbot Nicholas Litlyngton, who financed the work with money left by his predecessor Cardinal Simon Langham. The master mason was the great Henry Yevele, who followed closely the earlier Gothic style of architecture. Flying buttresses on the exterior took the thrust of the walls and enabled the roof to be raised to a height of 101 feet (31 metres). Richard II and Henry V later provided finance to continue the building but it was not finished until 1517, when the west window was glazed.

The choir screen has a monument to Sir Isaac Newton, in an area often referred to as Scientists Corner.

The Quire

The choir was originally the part of the Abbey in which the monks worshipped, but there is now no trace of pre-Reformation fittings, for in the late eighteenth century Henry Keene, the then Surveyor, removed the thirteenth-century stalls and designed a smaller Choir. This was in turn destroyed in the mid-nineteenth century by Edward Blore, who created the present Choir in Victorian Gothic style and removed the partitions which until then had blocked off the transepts.

It is here that the choir, of twenty-two boys and twelve Lay Vicars (the name given to the men of the choir), sings the daily Services.

The Organ with cases designed by J.L.Pearson and placed above the Choir screen, was originally built by Christopher Shrider in 1727. Successive rebuildings in the nineteenth century and in 1909 and 1937 and extensive work in 1983 and 1987 have resulted in the present instrument. Orlando Gibbons and Henry Purcell are two of the great musicians who have been Organists at Westminster Abbey.

The black and white marble floor in the Quire was the gift of Dr Richard Busby in 1677.

The Lady Chapel

The Lady Chapel was begun in 1503 and constructed at the expense of Henry VII. It is the last great masterpiece of English medieval architecture. In 1545 John Leland called it "the wonder of the entire world". Unfortunately the names of the master masons who designed it are not known but they were possibly Robert Janyns and William Vertue. The chapel is approached by a flight of stairs and at the entrance are finely wrought bronze gates displaying royal Tudor emblems.

The outstanding feature of the chapel is the spectacular fan-vaulted roof with its carved pendants. Around the walls are 95 statues of saints. Behind the altar is the tomb of Henry VII and his queen Elizabeth of York. The bronze screen around it is by Thomas Ducheman and the gilt bronze effigies and Renaissance tomb were designed by Italian Pietro Torrigiano. James I is also buried in the vault beneath the monument.

In 1725 the chapel was first used for installations of Knights of the Order of the Bath and the heraldic banners of living knights hang above the oak stalls. Beneath the hinged seats of the stalls are beautifully carved misericords.

At the east end is the Royal Air Force chapel.

South Transept

The South Transept is lit by a large rose window, with glass dating from 1902. Beneath it, in the angles above the right and left arches, are two of the finest medieval carvings in the Abbey, depicting censing angels. In addition to the many monuments, there are two fine late thirteenth-century wall paintings, uncovered in 1936, to be seen by the door leading to St. Faith's Chapel. They depict Christ showing his wounds to Doubting Thomas, and St. Christopher. At one time the south wall supported the dorter staircase, used by monks going from their dormitory to the Choir for their night offices. No sign of the staircase exists but if you look inside St. Faith's chapel you will see the passage leading to the staircase.

Poets' Corner

One of the best known parts of Westminster Abbey, Poets' Corner can be found in the South Transept. It was not originally designated as the burial place of writers, playwrights and poets; the first poet to be buried here, Geoffrey Chaucer, was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey because he had been Clerk of Works to the palace of Westminster, not because he had written the Canterbury Tales.

Over 150 years later, during the flowering of English literature in the sixteenth century, a more magnificent tomb was erected to Chaucer by Nicholas Brigham and in 1599 Edmund Spenser was laid to rest nearby. These two tombs began a tradition which developed over succeeding centuries.

Burial or commemoration in the Abbey did not always occur at or soon after the time of death. Lord Byron, for example, whose lifestyle caused a scandal although his poetry was much admired, died in 1824 but was finally given a memorial only in 1969. Even Shakespeare, buried at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1616, had to wait until 1740 before a monument, designed by William Kent, appeared in Poets' Corner.

The shrine of St. Edward the Confessor

The Chapel containing the shrine of St. Edward the Confessor, lies east of the Sanctuary at the heart of the Abbey. It is closed off from the west by a stone screen, probably of 15th century date, carved with scenes from the Confessor's life. Work is in progress to conserve the floor of this chapel and during this time public access is restricted.

The North Transept

The north transept became known as Statesmen's Aisle following the burial of Prime Minister William Pitt, Earl of Chatham in 1778. The stained glass in the north rose window was designed by Sir James Thornhill in 1722, although it was altered in the late 19th century by J.L.Pearson. The three small chapels on the eastern side of this transept contain some fascinating monuments including that by Roubiliac to Lady Elizabeth Nightingale (pictured) which shows a skeletal figure of Death emerging from a cavern to aim his dart at the dying lady.

In the north ambulatory can be found the large memorial to General James Wolfe.