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Westminster Abbey

February 01, 2023

For other uses, see Westminster Abbey (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Westminster Cathedral or Westminster Chapel.

Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 39 English and British monarchs,[5] and a burial site for 18 English, Scottish and British monarchs.[6] At least 16 royal weddings have occurred at the abbey since 1100.[7]

Westminster Abbey
Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster
Western façade
Westminster Abbey
LocationDean's Yard,
London, SW1
CountryEngland
DenominationChurch of England
Previous denominationRoman Catholic Church
ChurchmanshipHigh Church
Websitewww.westminster-abbey.org
History
StatusCollegiate church
Founded960; 1063 years ago (960)
DedicationSaint Peter
Consecrated28 December 1065,
13 October 1269
Architecture
Functional statusActive
Architect(s)Surveyor of the Fabric of Westminster Abbey
Architectural typeChurch
StyleGothic
Years built
  • 960
  • 1065
  • 13th century (rebuilt in Gothic style)
  • 1517 Henry VII's Chapel
  • 1722 (towers)
Specifications
Nave width85 feet (26 m)[1]
Height101 feet (31 m)[1]
Floor area32,000 square feet (3,000 m2)[1]
Number of towers2
Tower height225 feet (69 m)[1]
Bells10
Administration
DioceseExtra-diocesan (royal peculiar)
Clergy
DeanDavid Hoyle
Canon(s)see Dean and Chapter
Laity
Director of musicJames O'Donnell
(Organist and Master of the Choristers)
Organist(s)Peter Holder[2]
(sub-organist)
Matthew Jorysz[2]
(assistant)
Organ scholarDewi Rees[2]
Location within Central London
Coordinates51°29′58″N 00°07′39″W / 51.49944°N 0.12750°W / 51.49944; -0.12750Coordinates: 51°29′58″N 00°07′39″W / 51.49944°N 0.12750°W / 51.49944; -0.12750
Founded10th century[3]
Official namePalace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret's Church
TypeCultural
Criteriai, ii, iv
Designated1987 (11th session)
Reference no.426
CountryUnited Kingdom
RegionEurope and North America
Listed Building – Grade I
Official nameWestminster Abbey (The Collegiate Church of St Peter)
Designated24 February 1958
Reference no.1291494[4]

Although the origins of the church are obscure, there was certainly an abbey operating on the site by the mid-10th century, housing Benedictine monks.[8] Construction of the present church began in 1245 on the orders of Henry III.[9] The monastery was dissolved in 1559 and the church was made a royal peculiar—a Church of England church responsible directly to the sovereign—by Elizabeth I.[10] In 1987, the abbey, alongside the Palace of Westminster and St. Margaret's Church, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site due to its outstanding universal value.[11]

The abbey is the burial site of more than 3,300 people, many of prominence in British history: monarchs, prime ministers, poets laureate, actors, scientists, military leaders, and the Unknown Warrior.[12] The fame of the figures buried there has led to the abbey being called a "National Valhalla".[13]

History

Although historians agree that there was a monastery dedicated to St. Peter on the site prior to the 11th century, its exact origin is somewhat obscure. One legend claims that it was founded by the Saxon king Sebert, and another that its founder was the fictional 2nd century British king, Lucius.[14] One tradition claims that Aldrich, a young fisherman on the River Thames, had a vision of Saint Peter near the site. This seems to have been quoted as the origin of the salmon that Thames fishermen offered to the abbey, a custom still observed annually by the Fishmongers' Company. The recorded origins of the abbey date to the 960s or early 970s, when Saint Dunstan and King Edgar installed a community of Benedictine monks on the site.[8] At that time, the location was an island in the middle of the River Thames called Thorn Ey.[15] The buildings from this time would have been wooden, and have not survived.[16]

11th century: Edward the Confessor's abbey

 
Westminster Abbey at the time of Edward's funeral, as depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry

Between 1042 and 1052, Edward the Confessor began rebuilding St Peter's Abbey to provide himself with a royal burial church. It was the first church in England built in the Romanesque style. The building was completed around 1060 and was consecrated on 28 December 1065, only a week before Edward's death on 5 January 1066.[17] A week later, he was buried in the church; nine years later, his wife Edith was buried alongside him.[18] His successor, Harold Godwinson, was probably crowned here, although the first documented coronation is that of William the Conqueror later that year.[19]

The only extant depiction of Edward's abbey, together with the adjacent Palace of Westminster, is in the Bayeux Tapestry. Some of the lower parts of the monastic dormitory, an extension of the South Transept, survive in the Norman Undercroft of the Great School, including a door said to come from the previous Saxon abbey. Increased endowments supported a community that increased from a dozen monks during Dunstan's time, up to as many as eighty monks.[20]

In 1103, thirty-seven years after his death, Edward's tomb was re-opened by Abbot Gilbert Crispin and Henry I, who discovered that his body was still in perfect condition. This was considered proof of his saintliness, and he was canonised in 1161. Two years later he was moved to a new shrine, during which time his ring was removed and placed in the Abbey's collection.[21]

13th-14th centuries: Construction of the present church

The abbot and monks, being adjacent to the Palace of Westminster (the seat of government from the late 13th century), became a powerful force in the centuries after the Norman Conquest, with the Abbot of Westminster taking his place in the House of Lords in due course. The abbot remained Lord of the manor of Westminster as a town of two to three thousand people grew around it: as a consumer and employer on a grand scale, the monastery helped fuel the town's economy, and relations with the town remained unusually cordial, but no enfranchising charter was issued during the Middle Ages.[22]

Westminster Abbey became the coronation site of Norman kings, but none were buried there until Henry III rebuilt it in the Gothic style as a shrine to venerate King Edward the Confessor, as a competitor to match the great French churches such as Rheims Cathedral and Sainte-Chapelle,[23] and as a burial place for himself and his family.[24] Edward's shrine subsequently played a great part in his canonization.[8]

 
The north transept, completed in the 13th century during the reign of Henry III

Construction began in 1245 under Henry's master mason, Henry of Reynes. The first building stage included the entire eastern end, the transepts, and the easternmost bay of the nave. The Lady chapel, built from around 1220 at the extreme eastern end, was incorporated into the chevet of the new building, but has since been replaced by the Henry VII chapel. Around 1253, Henry of Reynes was replaced by John of Gloucester, who was replaced by Robert of Beverley around 1260.[9] This work must have been largely completed by 1258–60, when the second stage began. During the summer, there were up to 400 workers on the site at a time.[25]

From 1257, Henry III held assemblies of local representatives in Westminster Abbey's chapter house, which were a precursor to the House of Commons. Henry III also commissioned the unique Cosmati pavement in front of the High Altar.[26] This stage of building work carried the nave on an additional five bays, bringing it to one bay beyond the ritual choir. Here, construction stopped in about 1269. A consecration ceremony was held on 13 October of that year during which the remains of Edward the Confessor were moved to their present location at the shrine behind the main altar,[27] but after Henry's death and burial in the abbey in 1272, construction did not resume and Edward the Confessor's old Romanesque nave remained attached to the new building for over a century.[9]

 
The west end of the nave, designed by Henry Yevele

In 1296, Edward I captured the Stone of Scone from Scotland and had the Coronation Chair made to hold it, which he entrusted to the Abbot at Westminster Abbey.[28] From 1376, Richard II donated large sums to finish the project, and the remainder of the old nave was pulled down and rebuilding recommenced, with his mason, Henry Yevele, closely following the original (and by then outdated) design.[29] During the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, Richard prayed at Edward the Confessor's shrine for "divine aid when human counsel was altogether wanting" before meeting the rebels at Smithfield. To this day, the abbey holds his full-length portrait, the earliest of an English king, on display near the west door.[30] However, building work was not to be fully completed for many years. Henry V, disappointed with the abbey's unfinished state, gave extra funds towards the rebuilding, and in his will left instructions for a chantry chapel to be built over his tomb, which can still be viewed from ground level today.[31]

Under Henry VII, the 13th century Lady Chapel was demolished and rebuilt in a Perpendicular style, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1503 (known as the "Henry VII Chapel" or the "Lady Chapel"). The chapel was finished circa 1519.[29] Henry's original reason for building such a grand chapel was to have a place suitable for the burial of another saint alongside the Confessor, as he planned on having Henry VI canonised. However, the Pope asked Henry VII for a large sum of money to achieve sainthood for his predecessor, which he was not willing to hand over, and so instead Henry VII is buried in the centre of the chapel with his wife, Elizabeth of York.[32]

In the early 16th century, a project began under Abbot Islip to add two towers to the western end of the church. These were partially built up to the roof level of the church when building work stopped due to the uncertainty caused by the Reformation.[33]

16th-17th centuries: Dissolution and Reformation

 
The west front in the 17th century, before the addition of the towers, by Wenceslaus Hollar

In the 1530s, Henry VIII broke away from the authority of the Catholic Church in Rome and seized control of England's monasteries, including Westminster Abbey, beginning the English Reformation.[34] In 1535, during the assessment attendant on the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the abbey's annual income was £3,000.[35] Henry's agents removed many relics, saints' images, and treasures from the abbey: the golden feretory that housed the coffin of Edward the Confessor was melted down, and the monks even hid his bones to save them from destruction.[36] Henry VIII assumed direct control of the abbey in 1539 and granted it the status of a cathedral by charter in 1540, simultaneously issuing letters patent establishing the Diocese of Westminster. By granting the abbey cathedral status, Henry VIII gained an excuse to spare it from the destruction or dissolution which he inflicted on most English abbeys during this period.[37] The abbot, William Benson, became dean of the cathedral, while the prior and five of the monks were among the twelve canons.[38]

The Westminster diocese was dissolved in 1550, but the abbey was recognised (in 1552, retroactively to 1550) as a second cathedral of the Diocese of London until 1556.[39] The already-old expression "robbing Peter to pay Paul" may have been given a new lease of life when money meant for the abbey, which is dedicated to Saint Peter, was diverted to the treasury of St Paul's Cathedral.[40]

 
Westminster Abbey c. 1711 prior to the western towers being built by Nicholas Hawksmoor

The abbey saw the return of Benedictine monks under the Catholic Mary I, but they were again ejected under Elizabeth I in 1559.[10] In 1560, Elizabeth re-established Westminster as a "royal peculiar" – a church of the Church of England responsible directly to the sovereign, rather than to a diocesan bishop – and made it the Collegiate Church of St Peter (that is, a non-cathedral church with an attached chapter of canons, headed by a dean).[41] She also re-founded Westminster School, providing for 40 students known as the King's (or Queen's) Scholars and their schoolmasters. The King's Scholars have the duty of shouting Vivat Rex or Vivat Regina ("Long live the King/ Queen") during the coronation of a new monarch.To this day, the Dean of Westminster Abbey remains the chair of the school governors.[27]

In the early 17th century, the abbey hosted two of the six companies of churchmen, led by Lancelot Andrewes, Dean of Westminster, who translated the King James Version of the Bible.[42]

In 1642, the English Civil War broke out between Charles I and his own Parliament. The Dean and Chapter fled the abbey at the outbreak of war, and were replaced by priests loyal to Parliament.[43] The abbey itself suffered damage during the war, when altars, stained glass, the organ and the crown jewels were damaged or destroyed.[44] Oliver Cromwell was given an elaborate funeral there in 1658, only to be disinterred in January 1661 and posthumously hanged from a gibbet at Tyburn.[45]

18th-19th centuries: Western towers constructed

 
The western facade of the abbey, showing the towers added by Nicholas Hawksmoor

At the end of the 17th century, English architect Sir Christopher Wren was appointed the abbey's first Surveyor of the Fabric, and began a project to restore the exterior of the church,[33] which was continued by his successor, William Dickinson.[44] After over two hundred years, the abbey's two western towers were finally built between 1722 and 1745 by Nicholas Hawksmoor and John James, constructed from Portland stone to an early example of a Gothic Revival design. Purbeck marble was used for the walls and the floors, although the various tombstones are made of different types of marble.[46]

After an earthquake in 1750, the top of one of the piers on the north side fell down, with the iron and lead that had fastened it. Several houses fell in, and many chimneys were damaged. Another shock had been felt during the preceding month.[47]

On 11 November 1760, the funeral of George II was held at the abbey and the king was interred next to his late wife, Caroline of Ansbach. He left instructions for the sides of his and his wife's coffins to be removed so that their remains could mingle.[48] He was the last monarch to be buried in the abbey.[49]

In the 1830s, the previous screen dividing the nave from the choir, which had been designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, was replaced by one designed by Edward Blore. The screen contains the monuments for Isaac Newton and James Stanhope.[50]

Further rebuilding and restoration occurred in the 19th century under Sir George Gilbert Scott, who rebuilt the facade of the north transept, changing the rose window and porches on that side,[51] and designed a new altar and reredos for the crossing.[52] A narthex (a portico or entrance hall) for the west front was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in the mid-20th century but was not built.[53]

20th century

 
Replica of the Stone of Scone at Scone Palace. In 1914, the historic Stone was broken in half by a suffragette bombing.

The abbey saw "Prayers For Prisoners" suffragette protests in 1913 and 1914. Protesters attended services and interrupted proceedings by chanting "God Save Mrs. Pankhurst" and praying for suffragette prisoners. In one protest, a woman chained herself to her chair during a sermon by the Archbishop of Canterbury.[54] On 11 June 1914, a bomb planted by suffragettes of the Women's Social and Political Union exploded inside the abbey.[55][56] The abbey was busy with visitors, with around 80–100 people in the building at the time of the explosion.[57][58] Some were as close as 20 yards (18 m) from the bomb and the explosion caused a panic for the exits, but no serious injuries were reported.[58] The bomb blew off a corner of the Coronation Chair.[55][56] It also caused the Stone of Scone to break in half, although this was not discovered until 1950, when four Scottish nationalists broke into the church to steal the stone and return it to Scotland.[56] The bomb had been packed with nuts and bolts to act as shrapnel.[58] The event was part of a campaign of bombing and arson attacks carried out by suffragettes nationwide between 1912 and 1914.[55] Churches were a particular target, as it was believed that the Church of England was complicit in reinforcing opposition to women's suffrage – 32 churches were attacked nationwide between 1913 and 1914.[59][60] Coincidentally, at the time of the explosion, the House of Commons only 100 yards (90 m) away was debating how to deal with the violent tactics of the suffragettes.[58] Many in the Commons heard the explosion and rushed to the scene.[58] Two days after the Westminster Abbey bombing, a second suffragette bomb was discovered before it could explode in St Paul's Cathedral.[55]

Westminster suffered minor damage during the Blitz on 15 November 1940. On 10/11 May 1941, the Westminster Abbey precincts and roof were hit by incendiary bombs.[61] Although the Auxiliary Fire Service and the abbey's own fire-watchers were able to stop the fire spreading to the whole of the church, the Deanery and three residences of abbey clergy and staff were badly damaged, and the lantern tower above the crossing collapsed, leaving the abbey open to the sky.[62] The cost of the damage was estimated at £135,000.[63]

Due to its outstanding universal value, the abbey was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, together with the nearby Palace of Westminster and St. Margaret's Church.[11]

In 1997, the abbey, which was then receiving approximately 1.75 million visitors each year, began charging admission fees to visitors at the door[64] (although a fee for entering the eastern half of the church had existed prior to 1600).[65]

21st century

In June 2009 the first major building work in 250 years was proposed.[66] A corona – a crown-like architectural feature – was suggested to be built around the lantern over the central crossing, replacing an existing pyramidal structure dating from the 1950s.[67] This was part of a wider £23m development of the abbey completed in 2013.[66] On 4 August 2010, the Dean and Chapter announced that, "[a]fter a considerable amount of preliminary and exploratory work", efforts toward the construction of a corona would not be continued.[68]

 
Conservators carrying out work on the Cosmati pavement, 2009

The Cosmati pavement was re-dedicated by the Dean at a service on 21 May 2010 after undergoing a major cleaning and conservation programme.[69]

On 17 September 2010, Pope Benedict XVI became the first pope to set foot in the abbey,[70] and on 29 April 2011, the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton took place at the abbey.[71]

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries were created in the medieval triforium. This is a display area for the abbey's treasures in the galleries high up around the sanctuary. A new Gothic access tower with lift was designed by the abbey architect and Surveyor of the Fabric, Ptolemy Dean. The new galleries opened in June 2018.[72][73]

In 2020, a 13th century sacristy was uncovered in the grounds of the abbey as part of an archaeological excavation. The sacristy was used by the monks of the abbey to store objects used in Mass, such as vestments and chalices. Also on the site were hundreds of burials, mostly of abbey monks.[74]

On 10 March 2021, a vaccination centre opened in Poets' Corner to administer doses of COVID-19 vaccines.[75]

Architecture

 
Architectural drawings of the exterior (left) and interior (right) of the abbey

The building is chiefly Reigate stone, and is mostly built in a Geometric Gothic style. The church has an eleven-bay nave with aisles, transepts, and a chancel with ambulatory and radiating chapels. The height of the building is supported with two tiers of flying buttresses. The western end of the nave and the west front were designed by Henry Yevele in a Perpendicular Gothic style. The Henry VII Chapel was built in a late Perpendicular style, probably by Robert and William Vertue. The west towers were designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and blend Gothic with Baroque style.[54]

The present Westminster Abbey is largely based on French Gothic styles, especially those found at Rheims Cathedral, rather than the contemporaneous English Gothic styles. For example, the English Gothic style favours large and elaborate towers, while Westminster Abbey did not have any towers at all until the 18th century. It is also more similar to French churches than English ones in terms of its ratio of height to width: Westminster Abbey has the highest nave of any Gothic church in England, and the nave is much narrower than any medieval English church of a similar height. Instead of a short, square, eastern end, as was the English fashion, Westminster Abbey has a long, rounded apse, and it also has chapels radiating from the ambulatory, which is typical of a French Gothic style. However, there are also distinctively English elements, such as the use of materials of contrasting colours, like Purbeck marble and white stone in the crossing.[76]

 
The 20th-century martyrs above the west door

Over the Great West Door are ten statues of 20th-century Christian martyrs of various denominations, made by the abbey's craftsmen in 1998.[77] Those commemorated are Maximilian Kolbe, Manche Masemola, Janani Luwum, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, Martin Luther King Jr., Óscar Romero, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Esther John, Lucian Tapiedi, and Wang Zhiming.[78][79]

The abbey still retains its monastic cloisters, which would have been one of the busiest parts of the church when it was a monastery.The west cloister was used for the teaching of novice monks; the north for private study. The south cloister led to the refectory, and the east to the chapter house and dormitory.[80]

Interior

Inside, the church has Purbeck marble piers and shafting. The vaulting of the roof is quadripartite, with ridge ribs and bosses.[54] The choir stalls were designed by Edward Blore. Some stalls are assigned to High Commissioners of countries in the Commonwealth of Nations.[81]

Audio description of the shrine of Edward the Confessor by John Hall
 
The shrine of Edward the Confessor

Behind the main altar, in the holiest part of the church, lies the shrine and tomb of Edward the Confessor. Arranged around him in a horseshoe shape are a series of tombs of medieval kings and their queens: Henry III, Eleanor of Castile, Edward I, Philippa of Hainault, Edward III, Anne of Bohemia, Richard II, and finally, Henry V in the centre of the horseshoe, at the eastern end.[82] Henry III's tomb was originally covered in gold mosaic and coloured stone, but this has since been picked off by generations of tourists below the level of hand height.[83] At the western end, the shrine is totally separated from the main church by a stone reredos, closing off the shrine as a semi-private space.[82] The shrine is closed to the public except for special events.[84] The south transept contains wall paintings, made c.1300, which Richard Jenkyns calls "the grandest of their time remaining in England".[85] They depict the apostle Thomas viewing Christ's stigmata, and St. Christopher carrying the Christ child.[86] 14th-century paintings were also discovered during cleaning in 1923 on the backs of the sedilia, or seats used by priests on either side of the high altar. On the south side, there are three larger-than-life figures: Edward the Confessor, the angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary; and on the north side there are two kings, possibly Henry III and Edward I.[87]

The newest part of the abbey is the Weston Tower, finished in 2018 and designed by Ptolemy Dean. It sits between the chapter house and the Henry VII Chapel and contains a lift shaft and spiral staircase to allow public access to the triforium, which contains the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries.[88] The tower has a star-shaped floorplan and leaded windows with an elaborate crown rooftop. The lift shaft inside is faced with 16 kinds of stone from the abbey's history, including Purbeck marble, Reigate stone, and Portland stone. The project took five years and cost £22.9m. The galleries themselves were designed by McInnes Usher McKnight.[89]

Cosmati pavement

 
The Cosmati pavement, depicted in Hans Holbein's The Ambassadors

At the crossing, underneath Edward the Confessor's shrine and the main altar, is the Cosmati pavement, a 700-year-old tiled floor made of almost 80,000 pieces of coloured glass and stone set in Purbeck marble. It is named after the Cosmati family in Rome who were known for such work.[26] It was commissioned by Richard Ware, who travelled to Rome in 1258 when he became Abbot, and returned with stone and artists. The porphyry used was originally quarried as far away as Egypt, and was presumably brought to Italy during the days of the Roman Empire. When it was made, it was surrounded by an inscription in brass letters, since lost, written in Latin, giving the name of the artist as Odericus.[90] The inscription also predicts the end of the world 19,683 years after the making of the floor.[91] The pavement is depicted in the 16th century painting The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein.[83]

Stained glass

 
The Queen's Window, designed by David Hockney

The 13th century abbey's windows would have been filled with stained glass, but much of this was destroyed in the English Civil War and the Blitz and replaced with clear, plain glass. Since the 19th century, new stained glass has replaced clear, designed by artists such as Ninian Comper (on the north side of the nave), Hugh Easton and Alan Younger (in the Henry VII Chapel).[92]

The north rose window was designed by James Thornhill and made by Joshua Price in 1722 and shows Christ, the apostles (not including Judas Iscariot), and the four Evangelists. In the centre is the Bible. The window was restored by J. L. Pearson in the 19th century, during which the figures of the feet were cut off.[93] Thornhill also designed the great west window, which shows the Biblical figures of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with representatives of the twelve Tribes of Israel underneath.[94]

In the Henry VII Chapel, the west window was designed by John Lawson and unveiled in 1995. It depicts coats of arms and cyphers of Westminster Abbey's benefactors, in particular John Templeton, whose coat of arms is depicted prominently in the lower panel. In the centre is shown the arms of Elizabeth II. The central east window is designed by Alan Younger and was unveiled in 2000. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It depicts the Hale Bopp comet, which was passing over the artist's house at the time, as the star of Bethlehem. The donors of the window, Lord and Lady Harris of Peckham, are shown kneeling at the bottom.[95]

In 2018, artist David Hockney unveiled a new stained-glass window for the north transept, designed to celebrate the reign of Elizabeth II. It shows a countryside scene inspired by his native Yorkshire, with hawthorn blossoms and blue skies. Hockney used an iPad to design the window to replicate the backlight that comes through stained glass.[96]

Chapter house and Pyx Chamber

 
The interior of the chapter house
 
The ceiling of the chapter house

The chapter house was used by the abbey monks for daily meetings. It was also used by the King's Great Council and the Commons, predecessors of Parliament, from the 13th century.[97] The chapter house was built concurrently with the east parts of the abbey under Henry III, between about 1245 and 1253.[98] It was restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1872. The entrance is approached from the east cloister and includes a double doorway with a large tympanum above.[98] Inner and outer vestibules lead to the octagonal chapter house. It is built in a Geometrical Gothic style with an octagonal crypt below and a pier of eight shafts carrying the vaulted ceiling. Around the sides are blind arcading and numerous stone benches above which are large 4-light quatre-foiled windows.[98] The exterior includes flying buttresses added in the 14th century and a leaded tent-lantern roof on an iron frame designed by Scott.[97]

The walls of the chapter house are decorated with 14th- and 15th-century paintings representing the Apocalypse, the Last Judgement, and birds and animals.[99] The depiction of the Apocalypse is the only example in England.[100] The chapter house also has an original mid-13th-century tiled pavement. A wooden door within the vestibule was made with a tree felled 1032-1064 and is one of the oldest in Britain.[99]

The Pyx Chamber formed the undercroft of the monks' dormitory. It dates to the late 11th century and was used as a monastic and royal treasury. The outer walls and circular piers are of 11th-century date, several of the capitals were enriched in the 12th century and the stone altar added in the 13th century. The term pyx refers to the boxwood chest in which coins were held and presented to a jury during the Trial of the Pyx, in which newly minted coins were presented to ensure they conformed to the required standards.[80]

The chapter house and Pyx Chamber at Westminster Abbey are in the guardianship of English Heritage, but under the care and management of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster.[97]

Side chapels

The abbey includes a number of side chapels radiating from the ambulatory. Many were originally included in the 13th century rebuilding as special altars dedicated to individual saints, and many of the chapels still bear saints' names, e.g. St. Nicholas, St. Paul, etc. However, with the English Reformation, saints' cults were no longer orthodox, and so instead they were repurposed as places for extra burials and monuments.[101]

In the north ambulatory is St. Michael's Chapel, the Islip Chapel, and the Nurses' Memorial Chapel. St. Michael's contains a gigantic memorial to Joseph and Elizabeth Nightingale, showing a skeletal Death attacking Elizabeth with a spear.[102] In the south ambulatory is St. Nicholas' Chapel and St. Edmund's Chapel.[103]

 
Ceiling of the Henry VII chapel

Henry VII Chapel

Main article: Henry VII Chapel

The Henry VII Lady Chapel,also known as the Henry VII Chapel, is a large Lady chapel at the far eastern end of Westminster Abbey, paid for by the will of King Henry VII.[104] The chapel is built in a very late Perpendicular Gothic style, the magnificence of which caused John Leland to call it the orbis miraculum (the wonder of the world).[105] The tombs of several monarchs including Henry VII, Edward VI, Mary I, Elizabeth I, James I, Charles II, George II and Mary, Queen of Scots are found in the chapel.[106]

The chapel is noted for its pendant fan vault ceiling, probably designed by William Vertue, which Washington Irving said was "achieved with the wonderful minuteness and airy security of a cobweb". The interior walls are densely decorated with carvings, including around a hundred figures of saints. From the outside, the chapel is surrounded by flying buttresses, each taking the form of a polygonal tower topped with a cupola. At the centre of the chapel is the tomb of Henry VII and his wife, Elizabeth of York, made by Italian sculptor Pietro Torregiano.[107]

The chapel has within it further sub-chapels radiating from the main structure. One of these to the north contains the tombs of Mary I and Elizabeth I, both coffins being within Elizabeth's monument; and another to the south contains the tomb of Mary, Queen of Scots. Both monuments were commissioned by James I, the successor of Elizabeth to the English throne and the son of Mary, Queen of Scots.[108]

The chapel has also been the mother church of the Order of the Bath since 1725, and the banners of members hang above the stalls.[109]

Monastic buildings

 
The Jerusalem Chamber

Many of the rooms used by the monks still exist, only repurposed. The dormitory was turned into a library and a school room, and their offices were repurposed as houses for the clergy.[110] The abbot had his own lodgings and ate separately to the rest of the monks. The abbot's lodgings still exist, but are instead used by the dean of the church. They include the Jericho Parlour, built c.1520 and covered in wooden linenfold panelling, and the Jerusalem Chamber, which was the abbot's drawing room. The windows in the Jerusalem Chamber are stained glass and may have come from the original Lady Chapel which existed prior to the building of the Henry VII Chapel. The abbot also had a grand dining hall complete with minstrels' gallery, now used by Westminster School.[111] The prior also had his own household separate from the monks, the remains of which form the core of Ashburnham House in Little Dean's Yard, now also part of Westminster School.[112]

Burials and memorials

Main article: Burials and memorials in Westminster Abbey
 
The monument to Elizabeth I, containing the tombs of Elizabeth and her sister Mary I

Henry III rebuilt the abbey in honour of a royal saint, Edward the Confessor, whose relics were placed in a shrine in the sanctuary, and rebuilt the Abbey partly to serve as a burial place for himself and his family. He was interred near to the shrine, as were many of the Plantagenet kings of England, their wives and other relatives. From the death of Henry III in 1272 until the death of George II in 1760, most kings and queens were buried in the abbey. Monarchs buried at the abbey include Edward the Confessor, Henry III, Edward I, Edward III, Richard II, Henry V, Edward V, Henry VII, Edward VI, Mary I, Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I, James I, Charles II, Mary II, William III, Queen Anne, and George II.[6] Elizabeth and Mary, Queen of Scots were the last monarchs to be buried with full tomb effigies; monarchs after their burials are commemorated in the abbey with simple inscriptions.[113] Most monarchs after George II have been buried either in St George's Chapel or at the Frogmore Royal Burial Ground to the east of Windsor Castle.[114]

For much of the abbey's history, most of the people buried there besides monarchs were people with a connection to the church- either ordinary locals or the monks of the abbey itself, who were generally buried without surviving markers.[115] However, since the 18th century, it has become one of Britain's most significant honours to be buried or commemorated in the abbey.[116] The practice of burying national figures in the abbey began under Oliver Cromwell with the burial of Admiral Robert Blake in 1657 (although he was subsequently reburied outside).[117] The practice spread to include generals, admirals, politicians, doctors and scientists, and was much boosted by the lavish funeral and monument of scientist Isaac Newton, who died in 1727.[118]

In 1864, Arthur Penrhyn Stanley was appointed Dean of the abbey, and was very influential in turning it into a "national church". He invited popular preachers to draw in large congregations, and attracted crowds by arranging for celebrities of the day to be buried in the abbey, such as writer Charles Dickens, explorer David Livingstone, and scientist Charles Darwin—even when those people had expressed wishes to be buried elsewhere.[119]

 
The grave of scientist Stephen Hawking in the nave of the abbey

Politicians buried in the Abbey include Pitt the Elder, Charles James Fox, Pitt the Younger, William Gladstone, and Clement Attlee. A cluster of scientists surrounds the tomb of Sir Isaac Newton, including Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking. Actors include David Garrick, Henry Irving, and Lawrence Olivier. Musicians tend to be buried in the north aisle of the nave, and include George Frederic Handel, Muzio Clementi, Henry Purcell, and Ralph Vaughan Williams.[120]

During the early 20th century it became increasingly common to bury cremated remains rather than coffins in the abbey. In 1905, the actor Sir Henry Irving was cremated and his ashes buried in Westminster Abbey, thereby becoming the first person to be cremated before interment at the abbey.[121] The majority of modern interments are of cremated remains, but some burials still take place – Frances Challen, wife of Sebastian Charles, Canon of Westminster, was buried alongside her husband in the south choir aisle in 2014.[122] Members of the Percy family have a family vault, The Northumberland Vault, in St Nicholas's chapel within the abbey.[123]

At the east end of the Lady Chapel is a memorial chapel to the airmen of the Royal Air Force who were killed in the Second World War. It incorporates a memorial window to the Battle of Britain, which replaces an earlier Tudor stained glass window destroyed in the war.[124]

 
Some of the memorials to writers in Poets' Corner

Poets' Corner

Main article: Poets' Corner

The south transept of the church is nicknamed Poets' Corner due to its high concentration of burials and memorials to poets and writers. The first was Geoffrey Chaucer, buried around 1400, who was employed as master of the King's Works and had apartments in the abbey. Nearly 200 years later in 1599, a second poet, Edmund Spenser, who was local to the abbey, was buried nearby. However, the idea of a poets' corner did not fully crystallise until the 18th century, when memorials were established to writers buried elsewhere, such as William Shakespeare and John Milton. Since then, writers buried in Poets' Corner include John Dryden, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Charles Dickens, and Rudyard Kipling. However, not all writers buried in the abbey are in the south transept: Ben Jonson is buried standing upright in the north aisle of the nave, and Aphra Behn in the cloisters.[125]

 
Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at the west end of the nave

The Unknown Warrior

Main article: The Unknown Warrior

On the floor, just inside the Great West Door, in the centre of the nave, is the grave of The Unknown Warrior, an unidentified British soldier killed on a European battlefield during the First World War. Although many countries have adopted the tradition of a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or Warrior, the one in Westminster Abbey was the first, and came about as a response to the unprecedented death rate of the war.[126] The funeral was held on the anniversary of the end of the war, on the 11 November.[126] The Unknown Warrior lay in state for a week afterwards, and an estimated 1.25 million people queued to see him in that time. This grave is the only one in the abbey on which it is forbidden to walk.[127]

Royal occasions

The abbey has strong connections with the royal family, being patronised by various monarchs; as the location for coronations, royal weddings and funerals; and where several monarchs have attended services. In addition, one monarch was born and one died at Westminster Abbey. In 1413, Henry IV collapsed while praying at the shrine of Edward the Confessor. He was moved into the Jerusalem Chamber and died shortly afterwards.[128] Between 1470 and 1471, due to fallout from the Wars of the Roses, Elizabeth Woodville, the wife of Edward IV, took sanctuary at Westminster Abbey while her husband was deposed, and gave birth to the future Edward V in the Abbot's house.[129]

 
Queen Victoria's golden jubilee celebrations in Westminster Abbey

The first jubilee celebration held at the abbey was for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887. Rather than wearing the full regalia that she'd worn at her coronation, instead she wore her ordinary black mourning clothes topped with the insignia of the Order of the Garter and a miniature crown. She sat in the Coronation Chair, which was given a coat of dark varnish for the occasion which afterwards had to be painstakingly removed,[130] making her the only monarch to have sat in the chair twice.[131] Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, also marked their silver, gold, and diamond wedding anniversaries with services at the abbey, and regularly attended annual observances there for Commonwealth Day.[126]

The monarch participates in the Office of the Royal Maundy on Maundy Thursday each year, during which selected elderly people receive alms consisting of coins, given out to as many people of each sex as the monarch has years of their life. Since 1952, the service moved to various churches around the country, returning to the abbey every 10 years.[132]

Coronations

 
Portrait photograph of Elizabeth II on the day of her coronation, with the interior of Westminster Abbey visible in the background
Main articles: Coronation of the British monarch and List of British coronations

Since the coronation in 1066 of William the Conqueror, a total of 39 English and British monarchs[133] (not counting Edward V and Edward VIII, who were never crowned) has been crowned in Westminster Abbey.[27] In 1216, Henry III could not be crowned in the abbey, as London was captured by hostile forces at the time. He was crowned in Gloucester Cathedral and later had a second coronation at Westminster Abbey in 1220.[134]

The area of the church used is the crossing, known in the abbey as the theatre because of its particular suitability for such grand events. Rather than being filled with immovable pews as in many similar churches, the space in the crossing is clear, allowing for temporary seating to be installed in the transepts.[133]

 
The Coronation Chair, with a slot under the seat to hold the Stone of Scone

The Coronation Chair, the throne on which English and British sovereigns have been seated at the moment of crowning, is housed within the abbey in St George's Chapel near the West Door, and has been used at coronations since the 14th century.[135] From 1301 to 1996 (except for a short time in 1950 when the stone was temporarily stolen by Scottish nationalists), the chair also housed the Stone of Scone upon which the kings of Scots were crowned. Although it has been kept in Scotland, at Edinburgh Castle, since 1996, it is intended that the stone will be returned temporarily the Coronation Chair for use during future coronation ceremonies.[136] From the 16th to the 19th century, the chair was freely accessible to the public, who were able to sit in it, and even carve initials into the woodwork.[137]

Much of the Order of Service still derives from an illuminated manuscript called the Liber Regalis, made in 1377 for the coronation of Richard II and held in the abbey's collections.[138]

Prior to the 17th century, when a king married after his coronation, he would hold a separate coronation for his new queen. The last of these to take place in the abbey was the coronation of Anne Boleyn in 1533, after her marriage to Henry VIII.[34] There have been a total of 15 separate coronations for queen consorts in the abbey. A coronation for Henry VIII's third wife, Jane Seymour, was planned, but she died before it took place, and no coronations were planned for his subsequent wives. Mary I's husband, Philip of Spain, was not given a separate coronation for fear that he would attempt to rule alone after Mary's death. Since then, there have been few opportunities for a second coronation, as monarchs have generally come to the throne already married.[133] However, in 1170, Henry II held a separate coronation at Westminster Abbey for his son, known as Henry the Young King, while he, Henry II, was still alive, in an attempt to secure the succession. However, the Young King died before his father, so never took the throne.[133]

Many new monarchs have presented the Abbey with a gift of fine fabric at their coronation. Some have given as little as a symbolic scrap, but some give more: George V donated new altar cloths, and George VI and Elizabeth II each gave enough to make new vestments for the abbey clergy.[130]

Royal weddings

 
The 1947 wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Phillip Mountbatten in Westminster Abbey

Prior to the 20th century, royal weddings at the abbey were relatively rare, with royals often being married in a Chapel Royal or Windsor instead. This changed with the 1922 wedding of Princess Mary at the abbey, which was incredibly popular and started a trend. In 1923, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon became the first royal bride to leave her bouquet on the Grave of the Unknown Warrior, a practice continued by many royal brides since.[139]

Royal weddings have included:[140]

Date Groom Bride
11 November 1100 Henry I of England Matilda of Scotland
4 January 1243 Richard, Earl of Cornwall Sanchia of Provence
8 or 9 April 1269 Edmund, Earl of Leicester and Lancaster Aveline de Forz
30 April 1290 Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester Joan of Acre
8 July 1290 John II, Duke of Brabant Margaret of England
20 January 1382 Richard II of England Anne of Bohemia
18 January 1486 Henry VII of England Elizabeth of York
27 February 1919 Captain The Hon. Alexander Ramsay Princess Patricia of Connaught
28 February 1922 Henry Lascelles, Viscount Lascelles The Princess Mary
26 April 1923 Prince Albert, Duke of York Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
29 November 1934 Prince George, Duke of Kent Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark
20 November 1947 Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten The Princess Elizabeth
6 May 1960 Antony Armstrong-Jones The Princess Margaret
24 April 1963 The Hon. Angus Ogilvy Princess Alexandra of Kent
14 November 1973 Captain Mark Phillips The Princess Anne
23 July 1986 The Prince Andrew Sarah Ferguson
29 April 2011[141] Prince William of Wales Catherine Middleton

Royal funerals

Many royal funerals have taken place at the abbey, dating back to that of Edward the Confessor in 1066. Until the 18th century, many English and British monarchs were buried here, although since the 19th century, the custom has been to have the funeral at Westminster Abbey and then have the burial elsewhere.[27]

 
The tomb of two children, thought to be the Princes in the Tower

In 1290, Eleanor of Castile, queen of Edward I, died in Nottinghamshire. Over the course of several days, the body was brought to Westminster Abbey, and at each of the places the cortege rested, an Eleanor Cross was erected in memory. The most famous of these is Charing Cross, the last stop before the funeral. Eleanor of Castile is buried in the abbey alongside her husband.[28]

In 1483, the child king Edward V and his brother, Richard (known as the Princes in the Tower), disappeared while preparing for Edward's coronation at the Tower of London. Although it is not known for sure what happened to the boys, historians have suspected their uncle, who became Richard III, of having them murdered. In 1674, the remains of two children were discovered at the Tower, and were buried in Westminster Abbey with royal honours. In 1933, the bones were studied by an anatomist who suggested that they might indeed be the remains of the two princes.[142]

Although technically not a royal funeral, the burial of Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell took place at the abbey in 1658 with full honours. On top of the coffin lay an effigy of Cromwell complete with crown.[143]

On 6 September 1997 the formal, though not state funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, was held at the abbey. It was a royal ceremonial funeral including royal pageantry and Anglican funeral liturgy. In the run-up to the funeral, the railings of the abbey were swamped with flowers and tributes, and the event was more widely witnessed than any previous occasion in the abbey's history, with 2 billion television viewers worldwide.[144] A second public service was held on the following Sunday. The burial occurred privately on 6 September on the grounds of her family estate, Althorp, on a private island.[145]

On 19 September 2022, the state funeral of Elizabeth II took place at the abbey before her burial at St. George's Chapel, Windsor.[146]

Dean and Chapter

Main article: Dean and Chapter of Westminster

Westminster Abbey is a collegiate church governed by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, as established by Royal charter of Elizabeth I dated 21 May 1560,[147] which created it as the Collegiate Church of St Peter Westminster, a royal peculiar under the personal jurisdiction of the sovereign.[41] The members of the Chapter are the Dean and four canons residentiary;[148] they are assisted by the Receiver General and Chapter Clerk.[149] One of the canons is also Rector of St Margaret's Church, Westminster, and often also holds the post of Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons.[150] In addition to the dean and canons, there are at present three full-time minor canons: the precentor, the sacrist and the chaplain.[151] A series of Priests Vicar assist the minor canons.[151]

King's Almsmen

An establishment of six King's (or Queen's) Almsmen and women is supported by the abbey; they are appointed by royal warrant on the recommendation of the dean and the Home Secretary, attend Matins and Evensong on Sundays and do such duties as may be requested (in return for which they receive a small stipend); when on duty they wear a distinctive red gown with a crowned rose badge on the left shoulder.[152] From the late 18th until the late 20th century the almsmen were usually ex-servicemen, but today they are mostly retired employees of the abbey. Historically, the King's Almsmen and women were retired Crown servants residing in the Royal Almshouse at Westminster, which had been established by Henry VII in connection with his building of the new Lady Chapel, to support the priests of his chantry by offering daily prayer. The Royal Almshouse survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries, but was demolished for road-widening in 1779.[152]

Schools

Main articles: Westminster School and Westminster Abbey Choir School

Westminster School is located in the precincts of the abbey. Teaching certainly took place from the fourteenth century, alongside the monks of the abbey, but the school regards its founder as Elizabeth I, who dissolved the monastery for the final time and provided for the establishment of the school. The schoolboys themselves have added to the history of the abbey, often with their rambunctiousness: Westminster boys have defaced the Coronation Chair, disrupted services, and once interrupted a bishop consecration by starting a bare-knucle fight in the cloisters.[153] One schoolboy carved upon the Coronation Chair that he had slept in it overnight, making him probably its longest inhabitant.[154]

Separately, Westminster Abbey Choir School is also located within the abbey grounds and exclusively educates the choirboys who sing for abbey services.[155]

Music

 
The Westminster Abbey choristers outside 10 Downing Street in 2012

Westminster Abbey has its own choir which has sung at daily services since the 14th century.[156] The abbey choir consists of 12 professional adults and up to thirty boy choristers who attend Westminster Abbey Choir School.[81]

Organ

See also: List of Westminster Abbey organists

The organ was built by Harrison & Harrison in 1937, then with four manuals and 84 speaking stops, and was used for the first time at the coronation of George VI. Some pipework from the previous Hill organ of 1848 was revoiced and incorporated in the new scheme. The two organ cases, designed and built in the late 19th century by John Loughborough Pearson, were re-instated and coloured in 1959.[157]

In 1982 and 1987, Harrison & Harrison enlarged the organ under the direction of the abbey organist Simon Preston to include an additional Lower Choir Organ and a Bombarde Organ. The full instrument has five manuals and 109 speaking stops. In 2006, the console of the organ was refurbished by Harrison & Harrison, and space was prepared for two additional 16 ft stops on the Lower Choir Organ and the Bombarde Organ.[157]

Andrew Nethsingha was announced as Organist and Master of the choristers in December 2022, taking up the post in 2023.[156]

Bells

The bells at the abbey were overhauled in 1971. The ring is made up of ten bells, hung for change ringing, cast in 1971 by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, tuned to the notes: F#, E, D, C#, B, A, G, F#, E and D. The Tenor bell in D (588.5 Hz) has a weight of 30 cwt, 1 qtr, 15 lb (3403 lb or 1544 kg).[158]

In addition there are two service bells, cast by Robert Mot, in 1585 and 1598 respectively, a Sanctus bell cast in 1738 by Richard Phelps and Thomas Lester and two unused bells—one cast about 1320, and a second cast in 1742, by Thomas Lester.[158] The two service bells and the 1320 bell, along with a fourth small silver "dish bell", kept in the refectory, have been noted as being of historical importance by the Church Buildings Council of the Church of England.[159]

Order of the Bath

Main article: Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry whose spiritual home is the Henry VII Chapel in Westminster Abbey. It was founded by George I on 18 May 1725 and devised by Robert Walpole and John Anstis. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as one of its elements.[49]

 
Banners of members of the Order of the Bath in the Henry VII Chapel

The Order consists of the monarch, the Great Master, and three Classes of members:

  • Knight Grand Cross (GCB) or Dame Grand Cross (GCB)
  • Knight Commander (KCB) or Dame Commander (DCB)
  • Companion (CB) [160]

The Order of the Bath is the fourth-most senior of the British Orders of Chivalry, after The Most Noble Order of the Garter, The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, and The Most Illustrious Order of St Patrick (dormant).[161]

Members are given stalls, complete with their banner, crest and stallplate, at installation ceremonies at the abbey every four years. The ceremonies were stopped in 1847 and recommenced during the reign of George V. However, there are far many more members than stalls, and so some members wait many years for their installation.[162]

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries

The Westminster Abbey Museum was located in the 11th-century vaulted undercroft beneath the former monks' dormitory. This was one of the oldest areas of the abbey, dating back almost to the foundation of the church by Edward the Confessor in 1065. This space had been used as a museum since 1908[163] but was closed to the public in June 2018, when it was replaced as a museum by the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries, high up in the abbey's triforium.[72]

The exhibits include a set of life-size effigies of English and British monarchs and their consorts, originally made to lie on the coffin in the funeral procession or to be displayed over the tomb. The effigies date from the 14th to the 18th century, and some even include original clothes.[164]

On display in the galleries is a portrait of the Queen called The Coronation Theatre, Westminster Abbey: A Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, painted by Australian artist Ralph Heimans, depicting the monarch standing on the Cosmati pavement of Westminster Abbey, where she was crowned in 1953.[165] Other exhibits include a model of an unbuilt tower, designed by architect Christopher Wren; a paper model of the abbey showing Queen Victoria's 1837 coronation; and the wedding licence of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, who were married in the abbey in 2011.[89]

In popular culture

The abbey is mentioned in the play Henry VIII written by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, when a gentleman describes the scene of Anne Boleyn's coronation.[166]

The abbey has been mentioned in poetry as early as 1598, in a sonnet by Thomas Bastard, which begins "When I behold, with deep astonishment/ To famous Westminster how there restort/ Living in brass or stony monument/ The princes and the worthies of all sort". Poetry about the Abbey has also been written by Francis Beaumont[167] and John Betjeman.[168]

Key scenes in the book and film The Da Vinci Code take place in Westminster Abbey. In 2005, the abbey refused filming permission to the crew of the film, calling the book "theologically unsound". Instead, the film uses Lincoln Cathedral as a stand-in for the abbey.[169] The abbey issued a factsheet to their staff to allow them to answer questions from fans that debunked several claims made in the book.[170]

In 2022, it was announced that the abbey had given rare permission for filming inside the church to the film Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part Two.[171]

See also

Notes

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References

  • Bradley, S. and N. Pevsner (2003) The Buildings of England – London 6: Westminster, New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 105–207. ISBN 0-7117-1067-8
  • Carr, W. (1999) "Westminster Abbey", Norwich: Jarrold.ISBN 0-300-09595-3
  • Mortimer, Richard, ed., Edward the Confessor: The Man and the Legend, The Boydell Press, 2009. Eric Fernie, 'Edward the Confessor's Westminster Abbey', pp. 139–150. Warwick Rodwell, 'New Glimpses of Edward the Confessor's Abbey at Westminster', pp. 151–167. Richard Gem, Craftsmen and Administrators in the Building of the Confessor's Abbey', pp. 168–172. ISBN 978-1-84383-436-6
  • Harvey, B. (1993) Living and Dying in England 1100–1540: The Monastic Experience, Ford Lecture series, Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-1861976482
  • Jenkyns, R. (2004) Westminster Abbey: A Thousand Years of National Pageantry, London: Profile Books. ISBN 0-19-820161-3
  • Morton, H. V. [1951] (1988) In Search of London, London: Methuen. ISBN 978-0711724365
  • Reynolds, C. (2002) Stained Glass of Westminster Abbey, Great Britain: Jarrold. ISBN 0-413-18470-6
  • Robinson, Brian (1992). Silver Pennies & Linen Towels: The Story of the Royal Maundy. Spink & Sons Ltd. ISBN 978-0-907605-35-5.
  • Westlake, H. F. (1927) Story of Westminster Abbey, London: Philip Allan & Co.
  • Trowles, T. (2008) Treasures of Westminster Abbey, London: Scala. ISBN 978-1-85759-454-6
  • Wilkinson, J. & Knighton, C. S. (2010) "Crown and Cloister: The Royal Story of Westminster Abbey", London: Scala.

Further reading

  • Brooke-Hunt, Violet (1902). The Story of Westminster Abbey. London: James Nisbet.
  • Rackham, R. B. (March 1909). "The Nave of Westminster". Proceedings of the British Academy, 1909–1910. 4: 33–95.
  • Westminster Abbey 900 Years: The Commemorative Book. Dean and Chapter of Westminster. 1965; 49 pages{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)

External links

 
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  • Official website
  • Walter Thornbury, Old and New London, Volume 3, 1878, pp. 394–462, British History Online
  • Westminster Abbey Article at Encyclopædia Britannica
  • Historic images of Westminster Abbey 7 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  • Westminster Abbey: A Peek Inside 28 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine – slideshow by Life magazine
  • Keith Short – Sculptor Images of stone carving for Westminster Abbey
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February 01, 2023
westminster, abbey, other, uses, disambiguation, confused, with, westminster, cathedral, westminster, chapel, formally, titled, collegiate, church, saint, peter, westminster, anglican, church, city, westminster, london, england, since, 1066, been, location, co. For other uses see Westminster Abbey disambiguation Not to be confused with Westminster Cathedral or Westminster Chapel Westminster Abbey formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster London England Since 1066 it has been the location of the coronations of 39 English and British monarchs 5 and a burial site for 18 English Scottish and British monarchs 6 At least 16 royal weddings have occurred at the abbey since 1100 7 Westminster AbbeyCollegiate Church of Saint Peter at WestminsterWestern facadeWestminster AbbeyLocationDean s Yard London SW1CountryEnglandDenominationChurch of EnglandPrevious denominationRoman Catholic ChurchChurchmanshipHigh ChurchWebsitewww wbr westminster abbey wbr orgHistoryStatusCollegiate churchFounded960 1063 years ago 960 DedicationSaint PeterConsecrated28 December 1065 13 October 1269ArchitectureFunctional statusActiveArchitect s Surveyor of the Fabric of Westminster AbbeyArchitectural typeChurchStyleGothicYears built960106513th century rebuilt in Gothic style 1517 Henry VII s Chapel1722 towers SpecificationsNave width85 feet 26 m 1 Height101 feet 31 m 1 Floor area32 000 square feet 3 000 m2 1 Number of towers2Tower height225 feet 69 m 1 Bells10AdministrationDioceseExtra diocesan royal peculiar ClergyDeanDavid HoyleCanon s see Dean and ChapterLaityDirector of musicJames O Donnell Organist and Master of the Choristers Organist s Peter Holder 2 sub organist Matthew Jorysz 2 assistant Organ scholarDewi Rees 2 Location within Central LondonCoordinates51 29 58 N 00 07 39 W 51 49944 N 0 12750 W 51 49944 0 12750 Coordinates 51 29 58 N 00 07 39 W 51 49944 N 0 12750 W 51 49944 0 12750Founded10th century 3 UNESCO World Heritage SiteOfficial namePalace of Westminster Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret s ChurchTypeCulturalCriteriai ii ivDesignated1987 11th session Reference no 426CountryUnited KingdomRegionEurope and North AmericaListed Building Grade IOfficial nameWestminster Abbey The Collegiate Church of St Peter Designated24 February 1958Reference no 1291494 4 Although the origins of the church are obscure there was certainly an abbey operating on the site by the mid 10th century housing Benedictine monks 8 Construction of the present church began in 1245 on the orders of Henry III 9 The monastery was dissolved in 1559 and the church was made a royal peculiar a Church of England church responsible directly to the sovereign by Elizabeth I 10 In 1987 the abbey alongside the Palace of Westminster and St Margaret s Church was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site due to its outstanding universal value 11 The abbey is the burial site of more than 3 300 people many of prominence in British history monarchs prime ministers poets laureate actors scientists military leaders and the Unknown Warrior 12 The fame of the figures buried there has led to the abbey being called a National Valhalla 13 Contents 1 History 1 1 11th century Edward the Confessor s abbey 1 2 13th 14th centuries Construction of the present church 1 3 16th 17th centuries Dissolution and Reformation 1 4 18th 19th centuries Western towers constructed 1 5 20th century 1 6 21st century 2 Architecture 2 1 Interior 2 2 Cosmati pavement 2 3 Stained glass 2 4 Chapter house and Pyx Chamber 2 5 Side chapels 2 5 1 Henry VII Chapel 2 6 Monastic buildings 3 Burials and memorials 3 1 Poets Corner 3 2 The Unknown Warrior 4 Royal occasions 4 1 Coronations 4 2 Royal weddings 4 3 Royal funerals 5 Dean and Chapter 6 King s Almsmen 7 Schools 8 Music 8 1 Organ 8 2 Bells 9 Order of the Bath 10 The Queen s Diamond Jubilee Galleries 11 In popular culture 12 See also 13 Notes 14 References 15 Further reading 16 External linksHistory EditAlthough historians agree that there was a monastery dedicated to St Peter on the site prior to the 11th century its exact origin is somewhat obscure One legend claims that it was founded by the Saxon king Sebert and another that its founder was the fictional 2nd century British king Lucius 14 One tradition claims that Aldrich a young fisherman on the River Thames had a vision of Saint Peter near the site This seems to have been quoted as the origin of the salmon that Thames fishermen offered to the abbey a custom still observed annually by the Fishmongers Company The recorded origins of the abbey date to the 960s or early 970s when Saint Dunstan and King Edgar installed a community of Benedictine monks on the site 8 At that time the location was an island in the middle of the River Thames called Thorn Ey 15 The buildings from this time would have been wooden and have not survived 16 11th century Edward the Confessor s abbey Edit Westminster Abbey at the time of Edward s funeral as depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry Between 1042 and 1052 Edward the Confessor began rebuilding St Peter s Abbey to provide himself with a royal burial church It was the first church in England built in the Romanesque style The building was completed around 1060 and was consecrated on 28 December 1065 only a week before Edward s death on 5 January 1066 17 A week later he was buried in the church nine years later his wife Edith was buried alongside him 18 His successor Harold Godwinson was probably crowned here although the first documented coronation is that of William the Conqueror later that year 19 The only extant depiction of Edward s abbey together with the adjacent Palace of Westminster is in the Bayeux Tapestry Some of the lower parts of the monastic dormitory an extension of the South Transept survive in the Norman Undercroft of the Great School including a door said to come from the previous Saxon abbey Increased endowments supported a community that increased from a dozen monks during Dunstan s time up to as many as eighty monks 20 In 1103 thirty seven years after his death Edward s tomb was re opened by Abbot Gilbert Crispin and Henry I who discovered that his body was still in perfect condition This was considered proof of his saintliness and he was canonised in 1161 Two years later he was moved to a new shrine during which time his ring was removed and placed in the Abbey s collection 21 13th 14th centuries Construction of the present church Edit The abbot and monks being adjacent to the Palace of Westminster the seat of government from the late 13th century became a powerful force in the centuries after the Norman Conquest with the Abbot of Westminster taking his place in the House of Lords in due course The abbot remained Lord of the manor of Westminster as a town of two to three thousand people grew around it as a consumer and employer on a grand scale the monastery helped fuel the town s economy and relations with the town remained unusually cordial but no enfranchising charter was issued during the Middle Ages 22 Westminster Abbey became the coronation site of Norman kings but none were buried there until Henry III rebuilt it in the Gothic style as a shrine to venerate King Edward the Confessor as a competitor to match the great French churches such as Rheims Cathedral and Sainte Chapelle 23 and as a burial place for himself and his family 24 Edward s shrine subsequently played a great part in his canonization 8 The north transept completed in the 13th century during the reign of Henry III Construction began in 1245 under Henry s master mason Henry of Reynes The first building stage included the entire eastern end the transepts and the easternmost bay of the nave The Lady chapel built from around 1220 at the extreme eastern end was incorporated into the chevet of the new building but has since been replaced by the Henry VII chapel Around 1253 Henry of Reynes was replaced by John of Gloucester who was replaced by Robert of Beverley around 1260 9 This work must have been largely completed by 1258 60 when the second stage began During the summer there were up to 400 workers on the site at a time 25 From 1257 Henry III held assemblies of local representatives in Westminster Abbey s chapter house which were a precursor to the House of Commons Henry III also commissioned the unique Cosmati pavement in front of the High Altar 26 This stage of building work carried the nave on an additional five bays bringing it to one bay beyond the ritual choir Here construction stopped in about 1269 A consecration ceremony was held on 13 October of that year during which the remains of Edward the Confessor were moved to their present location at the shrine behind the main altar 27 but after Henry s death and burial in the abbey in 1272 construction did not resume and Edward the Confessor s old Romanesque nave remained attached to the new building for over a century 9 The west end of the nave designed by Henry Yevele In 1296 Edward I captured the Stone of Scone from Scotland and had the Coronation Chair made to hold it which he entrusted to the Abbot at Westminster Abbey 28 From 1376 Richard II donated large sums to finish the project and the remainder of the old nave was pulled down and rebuilding recommenced with his mason Henry Yevele closely following the original and by then outdated design 29 During the Peasants Revolt of 1381 Richard prayed at Edward the Confessor s shrine for divine aid when human counsel was altogether wanting before meeting the rebels at Smithfield To this day the abbey holds his full length portrait the earliest of an English king on display near the west door 30 However building work was not to be fully completed for many years Henry V disappointed with the abbey s unfinished state gave extra funds towards the rebuilding and in his will left instructions for a chantry chapel to be built over his tomb which can still be viewed from ground level today 31 Under Henry VII the 13th century Lady Chapel was demolished and rebuilt in a Perpendicular style dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1503 known as the Henry VII Chapel or the Lady Chapel The chapel was finished circa 1519 29 Henry s original reason for building such a grand chapel was to have a place suitable for the burial of another saint alongside the Confessor as he planned on having Henry VI canonised However the Pope asked Henry VII for a large sum of money to achieve sainthood for his predecessor which he was not willing to hand over and so instead Henry VII is buried in the centre of the chapel with his wife Elizabeth of York 32 In the early 16th century a project began under Abbot Islip to add two towers to the western end of the church These were partially built up to the roof level of the church when building work stopped due to the uncertainty caused by the Reformation 33 16th 17th centuries Dissolution and Reformation Edit The west front in the 17th century before the addition of the towers by Wenceslaus Hollar In the 1530s Henry VIII broke away from the authority of the Catholic Church in Rome and seized control of England s monasteries including Westminster Abbey beginning the English Reformation 34 In 1535 during the assessment attendant on the Dissolution of the Monasteries the abbey s annual income was 3 000 35 Henry s agents removed many relics saints images and treasures from the abbey the golden feretory that housed the coffin of Edward the Confessor was melted down and the monks even hid his bones to save them from destruction 36 Henry VIII assumed direct control of the abbey in 1539 and granted it the status of a cathedral by charter in 1540 simultaneously issuing letters patent establishing the Diocese of Westminster By granting the abbey cathedral status Henry VIII gained an excuse to spare it from the destruction or dissolution which he inflicted on most English abbeys during this period 37 The abbot William Benson became dean of the cathedral while the prior and five of the monks were among the twelve canons 38 The Westminster diocese was dissolved in 1550 but the abbey was recognised in 1552 retroactively to 1550 as a second cathedral of the Diocese of London until 1556 39 The already old expression robbing Peter to pay Paul may have been given a new lease of life when money meant for the abbey which is dedicated to Saint Peter was diverted to the treasury of St Paul s Cathedral 40 Westminster Abbey c 1711 prior to the western towers being built by Nicholas HawksmoorThe abbey saw the return of Benedictine monks under the Catholic Mary I but they were again ejected under Elizabeth I in 1559 10 In 1560 Elizabeth re established Westminster as a royal peculiar a church of the Church of England responsible directly to the sovereign rather than to a diocesan bishop and made it the Collegiate Church of St Peter that is a non cathedral church with an attached chapter of canons headed by a dean 41 She also re founded Westminster School providing for 40 students known as the King s or Queen s Scholars and their schoolmasters The King s Scholars have the duty of shouting Vivat Rex or Vivat Regina Long live the King Queen during the coronation of a new monarch To this day the Dean of Westminster Abbey remains the chair of the school governors 27 In the early 17th century the abbey hosted two of the six companies of churchmen led by Lancelot Andrewes Dean of Westminster who translated the King James Version of the Bible 42 In 1642 the English Civil War broke out between Charles I and his own Parliament The Dean and Chapter fled the abbey at the outbreak of war and were replaced by priests loyal to Parliament 43 The abbey itself suffered damage during the war when altars stained glass the organ and the crown jewels were damaged or destroyed 44 Oliver Cromwell was given an elaborate funeral there in 1658 only to be disinterred in January 1661 and posthumously hanged from a gibbet at Tyburn 45 18th 19th centuries Western towers constructed Edit The western facade of the abbey showing the towers added by Nicholas Hawksmoor At the end of the 17th century English architect Sir Christopher Wren was appointed the abbey s first Surveyor of the Fabric and began a project to restore the exterior of the church 33 which was continued by his successor William Dickinson 44 After over two hundred years the abbey s two western towers were finally built between 1722 and 1745 by Nicholas Hawksmoor and John James constructed from Portland stone to an early example of a Gothic Revival design Purbeck marble was used for the walls and the floors although the various tombstones are made of different types of marble 46 After an earthquake in 1750 the top of one of the piers on the north side fell down with the iron and lead that had fastened it Several houses fell in and many chimneys were damaged Another shock had been felt during the preceding month 47 On 11 November 1760 the funeral of George II was held at the abbey and the king was interred next to his late wife Caroline of Ansbach He left instructions for the sides of his and his wife s coffins to be removed so that their remains could mingle 48 He was the last monarch to be buried in the abbey 49 In the 1830s the previous screen dividing the nave from the choir which had been designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor was replaced by one designed by Edward Blore The screen contains the monuments for Isaac Newton and James Stanhope 50 Further rebuilding and restoration occurred in the 19th century under Sir George Gilbert Scott who rebuilt the facade of the north transept changing the rose window and porches on that side 51 and designed a new altar and reredos for the crossing 52 A narthex a portico or entrance hall for the west front was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in the mid 20th century but was not built 53 20th century Edit Replica of the Stone of Scone at Scone Palace In 1914 the historic Stone was broken in half by a suffragette bombing The abbey saw Prayers For Prisoners suffragette protests in 1913 and 1914 Protesters attended services and interrupted proceedings by chanting God Save Mrs Pankhurst and praying for suffragette prisoners In one protest a woman chained herself to her chair during a sermon by the Archbishop of Canterbury 54 On 11 June 1914 a bomb planted by suffragettes of the Women s Social and Political Union exploded inside the abbey 55 56 The abbey was busy with visitors with around 80 100 people in the building at the time of the explosion 57 58 Some were as close as 20 yards 18 m from the bomb and the explosion caused a panic for the exits but no serious injuries were reported 58 The bomb blew off a corner of the Coronation Chair 55 56 It also caused the Stone of Scone to break in half although this was not discovered until 1950 when four Scottish nationalists broke into the church to steal the stone and return it to Scotland 56 The bomb had been packed with nuts and bolts to act as shrapnel 58 The event was part of a campaign of bombing and arson attacks carried out by suffragettes nationwide between 1912 and 1914 55 Churches were a particular target as it was believed that the Church of England was complicit in reinforcing opposition to women s suffrage 32 churches were attacked nationwide between 1913 and 1914 59 60 Coincidentally at the time of the explosion the House of Commons only 100 yards 90 m away was debating how to deal with the violent tactics of the suffragettes 58 Many in the Commons heard the explosion and rushed to the scene 58 Two days after the Westminster Abbey bombing a second suffragette bomb was discovered before it could explode in St Paul s Cathedral 55 Westminster suffered minor damage during the Blitz on 15 November 1940 On 10 11 May 1941 the Westminster Abbey precincts and roof were hit by incendiary bombs 61 Although the Auxiliary Fire Service and the abbey s own fire watchers were able to stop the fire spreading to the whole of the church the Deanery and three residences of abbey clergy and staff were badly damaged and the lantern tower above the crossing collapsed leaving the abbey open to the sky 62 The cost of the damage was estimated at 135 000 63 Due to its outstanding universal value the abbey was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 together with the nearby Palace of Westminster and St Margaret s Church 11 In 1997 the abbey which was then receiving approximately 1 75 million visitors each year began charging admission fees to visitors at the door 64 although a fee for entering the eastern half of the church had existed prior to 1600 65 21st century Edit In June 2009 the first major building work in 250 years was proposed 66 A corona a crown like architectural feature was suggested to be built around the lantern over the central crossing replacing an existing pyramidal structure dating from the 1950s 67 This was part of a wider 23m development of the abbey completed in 2013 66 On 4 August 2010 the Dean and Chapter announced that a fter a considerable amount of preliminary and exploratory work efforts toward the construction of a corona would not be continued 68 Conservators carrying out work on the Cosmati pavement 2009 The Cosmati pavement was re dedicated by the Dean at a service on 21 May 2010 after undergoing a major cleaning and conservation programme 69 On 17 September 2010 Pope Benedict XVI became the first pope to set foot in the abbey 70 and on 29 April 2011 the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton took place at the abbey 71 The Queen s Diamond Jubilee Galleries were created in the medieval triforium This is a display area for the abbey s treasures in the galleries high up around the sanctuary A new Gothic access tower with lift was designed by the abbey architect and Surveyor of the Fabric Ptolemy Dean The new galleries opened in June 2018 72 73 In 2020 a 13th century sacristy was uncovered in the grounds of the abbey as part of an archaeological excavation The sacristy was used by the monks of the abbey to store objects used in Mass such as vestments and chalices Also on the site were hundreds of burials mostly of abbey monks 74 On 10 March 2021 a vaccination centre opened in Poets Corner to administer doses of COVID 19 vaccines 75 Architecture Edit Architectural drawings of the exterior left and interior right of the abbey The building is chiefly Reigate stone and is mostly built in a Geometric Gothic style The church has an eleven bay nave with aisles transepts and a chancel with ambulatory and radiating chapels The height of the building is supported with two tiers of flying buttresses The western end of the nave and the west front were designed by Henry Yevele in a Perpendicular Gothic style The Henry VII Chapel was built in a late Perpendicular style probably by Robert and William Vertue The west towers were designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and blend Gothic with Baroque style 54 The present Westminster Abbey is largely based on French Gothic styles especially those found at Rheims Cathedral rather than the contemporaneous English Gothic styles For example the English Gothic style favours large and elaborate towers while Westminster Abbey did not have any towers at all until the 18th century It is also more similar to French churches than English ones in terms of its ratio of height to width Westminster Abbey has the highest nave of any Gothic church in England and the nave is much narrower than any medieval English church of a similar height Instead of a short square eastern end as was the English fashion Westminster Abbey has a long rounded apse and it also has chapels radiating from the ambulatory which is typical of a French Gothic style However there are also distinctively English elements such as the use of materials of contrasting colours like Purbeck marble and white stone in the crossing 76 The 20th century martyrs above the west door Over the Great West Door are ten statues of 20th century Christian martyrs of various denominations made by the abbey s craftsmen in 1998 77 Those commemorated are Maximilian Kolbe Manche Masemola Janani Luwum Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna Martin Luther King Jr oscar Romero Dietrich Bonhoeffer Esther John Lucian Tapiedi and Wang Zhiming 78 79 The abbey still retains its monastic cloisters which would have been one of the busiest parts of the church when it was a monastery The west cloister was used for the teaching of novice monks the north for private study The south cloister led to the refectory and the east to the chapter house and dormitory 80 Interior Edit Inside the church has Purbeck marble piers and shafting The vaulting of the roof is quadripartite with ridge ribs and bosses 54 The choir stalls were designed by Edward Blore Some stalls are assigned to High Commissioners of countries in the Commonwealth of Nations 81 source source Audio description of the shrine of Edward the Confessor by John Hall The shrine of Edward the Confessor Behind the main altar in the holiest part of the church lies the shrine and tomb of Edward the Confessor Arranged around him in a horseshoe shape are a series of tombs of medieval kings and their queens Henry III Eleanor of Castile Edward I Philippa of Hainault Edward III Anne of Bohemia Richard II and finally Henry V in the centre of the horseshoe at the eastern end 82 Henry III s tomb was originally covered in gold mosaic and coloured stone but this has since been picked off by generations of tourists below the level of hand height 83 At the western end the shrine is totally separated from the main church by a stone reredos closing off the shrine as a semi private space 82 The shrine is closed to the public except for special events 84 The south transept contains wall paintings made c 1300 which Richard Jenkyns calls the grandest of their time remaining in England 85 They depict the apostle Thomas viewing Christ s stigmata and St Christopher carrying the Christ child 86 14th century paintings were also discovered during cleaning in 1923 on the backs of the sedilia or seats used by priests on either side of the high altar On the south side there are three larger than life figures Edward the Confessor the angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary and on the north side there are two kings possibly Henry III and Edward I 87 The newest part of the abbey is the Weston Tower finished in 2018 and designed by Ptolemy Dean It sits between the chapter house and the Henry VII Chapel and contains a lift shaft and spiral staircase to allow public access to the triforium which contains the Queen s Diamond Jubilee Galleries 88 The tower has a star shaped floorplan and leaded windows with an elaborate crown rooftop The lift shaft inside is faced with 16 kinds of stone from the abbey s history including Purbeck marble Reigate stone and Portland stone The project took five years and cost 22 9m The galleries themselves were designed by McInnes Usher McKnight 89 Cosmati pavement Edit The Cosmati pavement depicted in Hans Holbein s The Ambassadors At the crossing underneath Edward the Confessor s shrine and the main altar is the Cosmati pavement a 700 year old tiled floor made of almost 80 000 pieces of coloured glass and stone set in Purbeck marble It is named after the Cosmati family in Rome who were known for such work 26 It was commissioned by Richard Ware who travelled to Rome in 1258 when he became Abbot and returned with stone and artists The porphyry used was originally quarried as far away as Egypt and was presumably brought to Italy during the days of the Roman Empire When it was made it was surrounded by an inscription in brass letters since lost written in Latin giving the name of the artist as Odericus 90 The inscription also predicts the end of the world 19 683 years after the making of the floor 91 The pavement is depicted in the 16th century painting The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein 83 Stained glass Edit The Queen s Window designed by David Hockney The 13th century abbey s windows would have been filled with stained glass but much of this was destroyed in the English Civil War and the Blitz and replaced with clear plain glass Since the 19th century new stained glass has replaced clear designed by artists such as Ninian Comper on the north side of the nave Hugh Easton and Alan Younger in the Henry VII Chapel 92 The north rose window was designed by James Thornhill and made by Joshua Price in 1722 and shows Christ the apostles not including Judas Iscariot and the four Evangelists In the centre is the Bible The window was restored by J L Pearson in the 19th century during which the figures of the feet were cut off 93 Thornhill also designed the great west window which shows the Biblical figures of Abraham Isaac and Jacob with representatives of the twelve Tribes of Israel underneath 94 In the Henry VII Chapel the west window was designed by John Lawson and unveiled in 1995 It depicts coats of arms and cyphers of Westminster Abbey s benefactors in particular John Templeton whose coat of arms is depicted prominently in the lower panel In the centre is shown the arms of Elizabeth II The central east window is designed by Alan Younger and was unveiled in 2000 It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary It depicts the Hale Bopp comet which was passing over the artist s house at the time as the star of Bethlehem The donors of the window Lord and Lady Harris of Peckham are shown kneeling at the bottom 95 In 2018 artist David Hockney unveiled a new stained glass window for the north transept designed to celebrate the reign of Elizabeth II It shows a countryside scene inspired by his native Yorkshire with hawthorn blossoms and blue skies Hockney used an iPad to design the window to replicate the backlight that comes through stained glass 96 Chapter house and Pyx Chamber Edit The interior of the chapter house The ceiling of the chapter house The chapter house was used by the abbey monks for daily meetings It was also used by the King s Great Council and the Commons predecessors of Parliament from the 13th century 97 The chapter house was built concurrently with the east parts of the abbey under Henry III between about 1245 and 1253 98 It was restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1872 The entrance is approached from the east cloister and includes a double doorway with a large tympanum above 98 Inner and outer vestibules lead to the octagonal chapter house It is built in a Geometrical Gothic style with an octagonal crypt below and a pier of eight shafts carrying the vaulted ceiling Around the sides are blind arcading and numerous stone benches above which are large 4 light quatre foiled windows 98 The exterior includes flying buttresses added in the 14th century and a leaded tent lantern roof on an iron frame designed by Scott 97 The walls of the chapter house are decorated with 14th and 15th century paintings representing the Apocalypse the Last Judgement and birds and animals 99 The depiction of the Apocalypse is the only example in England 100 The chapter house also has an original mid 13th century tiled pavement A wooden door within the vestibule was made with a tree felled 1032 1064 and is one of the oldest in Britain 99 The Pyx Chamber formed the undercroft of the monks dormitory It dates to the late 11th century and was used as a monastic and royal treasury The outer walls and circular piers are of 11th century date several of the capitals were enriched in the 12th century and the stone altar added in the 13th century The term pyx refers to the boxwood chest in which coins were held and presented to a jury during the Trial of the Pyx in which newly minted coins were presented to ensure they conformed to the required standards 80 The chapter house and Pyx Chamber at Westminster Abbey are in the guardianship of English Heritage but under the care and management of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster 97 Side chapels Edit The abbey includes a number of side chapels radiating from the ambulatory Many were originally included in the 13th century rebuilding as special altars dedicated to individual saints and many of the chapels still bear saints names e g St Nicholas St Paul etc However with the English Reformation saints cults were no longer orthodox and so instead they were repurposed as places for extra burials and monuments 101 In the north ambulatory is St Michael s Chapel the Islip Chapel and the Nurses Memorial Chapel St Michael s contains a gigantic memorial to Joseph and Elizabeth Nightingale showing a skeletal Death attacking Elizabeth with a spear 102 In the south ambulatory is St Nicholas Chapel and St Edmund s Chapel 103 Ceiling of the Henry VII chapel Henry VII Chapel Edit Main article Henry VII Chapel The Henry VII Lady Chapel also known as the Henry VII Chapel is a large Lady chapel at the far eastern end of Westminster Abbey paid for by the will of King Henry VII 104 The chapel is built in a very late Perpendicular Gothic style the magnificence of which caused John Leland to call it the orbis miraculum the wonder of the world 105 The tombs of several monarchs including Henry VII Edward VI Mary I Elizabeth I James I Charles II George II and Mary Queen of Scots are found in the chapel 106 The chapel is noted for its pendant fan vault ceiling probably designed by William Vertue which Washington Irving said was achieved with the wonderful minuteness and airy security of a cobweb The interior walls are densely decorated with carvings including around a hundred figures of saints From the outside the chapel is surrounded by flying buttresses each taking the form of a polygonal tower topped with a cupola At the centre of the chapel is the tomb of Henry VII and his wife Elizabeth of York made by Italian sculptor Pietro Torregiano 107 The chapel has within it further sub chapels radiating from the main structure One of these to the north contains the tombs of Mary I and Elizabeth I both coffins being within Elizabeth s monument and another to the south contains the tomb of Mary Queen of Scots Both monuments were commissioned by James I the successor of Elizabeth to the English throne and the son of Mary Queen of Scots 108 The chapel has also been the mother church of the Order of the Bath since 1725 and the banners of members hang above the stalls 109 Monastic buildings Edit The Jerusalem Chamber Many of the rooms used by the monks still exist only repurposed The dormitory was turned into a library and a school room and their offices were repurposed as houses for the clergy 110 The abbot had his own lodgings and ate separately to the rest of the monks The abbot s lodgings still exist but are instead used by the dean of the church They include the Jericho Parlour built c 1520 and covered in wooden linenfold panelling and the Jerusalem Chamber which was the abbot s drawing room The windows in the Jerusalem Chamber are stained glass and may have come from the original Lady Chapel which existed prior to the building of the Henry VII Chapel The abbot also had a grand dining hall complete with minstrels gallery now used by Westminster School 111 The prior also had his own household separate from the monks the remains of which form the core of Ashburnham House in Little Dean s Yard now also part of Westminster School 112 Burials and memorials EditMain article Burials and memorials in Westminster Abbey The monument to Elizabeth I containing the tombs of Elizabeth and her sister Mary I Henry III rebuilt the abbey in honour of a royal saint Edward the Confessor whose relics were placed in a shrine in the sanctuary and rebuilt the Abbey partly to serve as a burial place for himself and his family He was interred near to the shrine as were many of the Plantagenet kings of England their wives and other relatives From the death of Henry III in 1272 until the death of George II in 1760 most kings and queens were buried in the abbey Monarchs buried at the abbey include Edward the Confessor Henry III Edward I Edward III Richard II Henry V Edward V Henry VII Edward VI Mary I Mary Queen of Scots Elizabeth I James I Charles II Mary II William III Queen Anne and George II 6 Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scots were the last monarchs to be buried with full tomb effigies monarchs after their burials are commemorated in the abbey with simple inscriptions 113 Most monarchs after George II have been buried either in St George s Chapel or at the Frogmore Royal Burial Ground to the east of Windsor Castle 114 For much of the abbey s history most of the people buried there besides monarchs were people with a connection to the church either ordinary locals or the monks of the abbey itself who were generally buried without surviving markers 115 However since the 18th century it has become one of Britain s most significant honours to be buried or commemorated in the abbey 116 The practice of burying national figures in the abbey began under Oliver Cromwell with the burial of Admiral Robert Blake in 1657 although he was subsequently reburied outside 117 The practice spread to include generals admirals politicians doctors and scientists and was much boosted by the lavish funeral and monument of scientist Isaac Newton who died in 1727 118 In 1864 Arthur Penrhyn Stanley was appointed Dean of the abbey and was very influential in turning it into a national church He invited popular preachers to draw in large congregations and attracted crowds by arranging for celebrities of the day to be buried in the abbey such as writer Charles Dickens explorer David Livingstone and scientist Charles Darwin even when those people had expressed wishes to be buried elsewhere 119 The grave of scientist Stephen Hawking in the nave of the abbey Politicians buried in the Abbey include Pitt the Elder Charles James Fox Pitt the Younger William Gladstone and Clement Attlee A cluster of scientists surrounds the tomb of Sir Isaac Newton including Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking Actors include David Garrick Henry Irving and Lawrence Olivier Musicians tend to be buried in the north aisle of the nave and include George Frederic Handel Muzio Clementi Henry Purcell and Ralph Vaughan Williams 120 During the early 20th century it became increasingly common to bury cremated remains rather than coffins in the abbey In 1905 the actor Sir Henry Irving was cremated and his ashes buried in Westminster Abbey thereby becoming the first person to be cremated before interment at the abbey 121 The majority of modern interments are of cremated remains but some burials still take place Frances Challen wife of Sebastian Charles Canon of Westminster was buried alongside her husband in the south choir aisle in 2014 122 Members of the Percy family have a family vault The Northumberland Vault in St Nicholas s chapel within the abbey 123 At the east end of the Lady Chapel is a memorial chapel to the airmen of the Royal Air Force who were killed in the Second World War It incorporates a memorial window to the Battle of Britain which replaces an earlier Tudor stained glass window destroyed in the war 124 Some of the memorials to writers in Poets Corner Poets Corner Edit Main article Poets Corner The south transept of the church is nicknamed Poets Corner due to its high concentration of burials and memorials to poets and writers The first was Geoffrey Chaucer buried around 1400 who was employed as master of the King s Works and had apartments in the abbey Nearly 200 years later in 1599 a second poet Edmund Spenser who was local to the abbey was buried nearby However the idea of a poets corner did not fully crystallise until the 18th century when memorials were established to writers buried elsewhere such as William Shakespeare and John Milton Since then writers buried in Poets Corner include John Dryden Alfred Lord Tennyson Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling However not all writers buried in the abbey are in the south transept Ben Jonson is buried standing upright in the north aisle of the nave and Aphra Behn in the cloisters 125 Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at the west end of the nave The Unknown Warrior Edit Main article The Unknown Warrior On the floor just inside the Great West Door in the centre of the nave is the grave of The Unknown Warrior an unidentified British soldier killed on a European battlefield during the First World War Although many countries have adopted the tradition of a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or Warrior the one in Westminster Abbey was the first and came about as a response to the unprecedented death rate of the war 126 The funeral was held on the anniversary of the end of the war on the 11 November 126 The Unknown Warrior lay in state for a week afterwards and an estimated 1 25 million people queued to see him in that time This grave is the only one in the abbey on which it is forbidden to walk 127 Royal occasions EditThe abbey has strong connections with the royal family being patronised by various monarchs as the location for coronations royal weddings and funerals and where several monarchs have attended services In addition one monarch was born and one died at Westminster Abbey In 1413 Henry IV collapsed while praying at the shrine of Edward the Confessor He was moved into the Jerusalem Chamber and died shortly afterwards 128 Between 1470 and 1471 due to fallout from the Wars of the Roses Elizabeth Woodville the wife of Edward IV took sanctuary at Westminster Abbey while her husband was deposed and gave birth to the future Edward V in the Abbot s house 129 Queen Victoria s golden jubilee celebrations in Westminster Abbey The first jubilee celebration held at the abbey was for Queen Victoria s Golden Jubilee in 1887 Rather than wearing the full regalia that she d worn at her coronation instead she wore her ordinary black mourning clothes topped with the insignia of the Order of the Garter and a miniature crown She sat in the Coronation Chair which was given a coat of dark varnish for the occasion which afterwards had to be painstakingly removed 130 making her the only monarch to have sat in the chair twice 131 Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip also marked their silver gold and diamond wedding anniversaries with services at the abbey and regularly attended annual observances there for Commonwealth Day 126 The monarch participates in the Office of the Royal Maundy on Maundy Thursday each year during which selected elderly people receive alms consisting of coins given out to as many people of each sex as the monarch has years of their life Since 1952 the service moved to various churches around the country returning to the abbey every 10 years 132 Coronations Edit Portrait photograph of Elizabeth II on the day of her coronation with the interior of Westminster Abbey visible in the background Main articles Coronation of the British monarch and List of British coronations Since the coronation in 1066 of William the Conqueror a total of 39 English and British monarchs 133 not counting Edward V and Edward VIII who were never crowned has been crowned in Westminster Abbey 27 In 1216 Henry III could not be crowned in the abbey as London was captured by hostile forces at the time He was crowned in Gloucester Cathedral and later had a second coronation at Westminster Abbey in 1220 134 The area of the church used is the crossing known in the abbey as the theatre because of its particular suitability for such grand events Rather than being filled with immovable pews as in many similar churches the space in the crossing is clear allowing for temporary seating to be installed in the transepts 133 The Coronation Chair with a slot under the seat to hold the Stone of Scone The Coronation Chair the throne on which English and British sovereigns have been seated at the moment of crowning is housed within the abbey in St George s Chapel near the West Door and has been used at coronations since the 14th century 135 From 1301 to 1996 except for a short time in 1950 when the stone was temporarily stolen by Scottish nationalists the chair also housed the Stone of Scone upon which the kings of Scots were crowned Although it has been kept in Scotland at Edinburgh Castle since 1996 it is intended that the stone will be returned temporarily the Coronation Chair for use during future coronation ceremonies 136 From the 16th to the 19th century the chair was freely accessible to the public who were able to sit in it and even carve initials into the woodwork 137 Much of the Order of Service still derives from an illuminated manuscript called the Liber Regalis made in 1377 for the coronation of Richard II and held in the abbey s collections 138 Prior to the 17th century when a king married after his coronation he would hold a separate coronation for his new queen The last of these to take place in the abbey was the coronation of Anne Boleyn in 1533 after her marriage to Henry VIII 34 There have been a total of 15 separate coronations for queen consorts in the abbey A coronation for Henry VIII s third wife Jane Seymour was planned but she died before it took place and no coronations were planned for his subsequent wives Mary I s husband Philip of Spain was not given a separate coronation for fear that he would attempt to rule alone after Mary s death Since then there have been few opportunities for a second coronation as monarchs have generally come to the throne already married 133 However in 1170 Henry II held a separate coronation at Westminster Abbey for his son known as Henry the Young King while he Henry II was still alive in an attempt to secure the succession However the Young King died before his father so never took the throne 133 Many new monarchs have presented the Abbey with a gift of fine fabric at their coronation Some have given as little as a symbolic scrap but some give more George V donated new altar cloths and George VI and Elizabeth II each gave enough to make new vestments for the abbey clergy 130 Royal weddings Edit The 1947 wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Phillip Mountbatten in Westminster Abbey Prior to the 20th century royal weddings at the abbey were relatively rare with royals often being married in a Chapel Royal or Windsor instead This changed with the 1922 wedding of Princess Mary at the abbey which was incredibly popular and started a trend In 1923 Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon became the first royal bride to leave her bouquet on the Grave of the Unknown Warrior a practice continued by many royal brides since 139 Royal weddings have included 140 Date Groom Bride11 November 1100 Henry I of England Matilda of Scotland4 January 1243 Richard Earl of Cornwall Sanchia of Provence8 or 9 April 1269 Edmund Earl of Leicester and Lancaster Aveline de Forz30 April 1290 Gilbert de Clare 7th Earl of Gloucester Joan of Acre8 July 1290 John II Duke of Brabant Margaret of England20 January 1382 Richard II of England Anne of Bohemia18 January 1486 Henry VII of England Elizabeth of York27 February 1919 Captain The Hon Alexander Ramsay Princess Patricia of Connaught28 February 1922 Henry Lascelles Viscount Lascelles The Princess Mary26 April 1923 Prince Albert Duke of York Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon29 November 1934 Prince George Duke of Kent Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark20 November 1947 Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten The Princess Elizabeth6 May 1960 Antony Armstrong Jones The Princess Margaret24 April 1963 The Hon Angus Ogilvy Princess Alexandra of Kent14 November 1973 Captain Mark Phillips The Princess Anne23 July 1986 The Prince Andrew Sarah Ferguson29 April 2011 141 Prince William of Wales Catherine MiddletonRoyal funerals Edit Many royal funerals have taken place at the abbey dating back to that of Edward the Confessor in 1066 Until the 18th century many English and British monarchs were buried here although since the 19th century the custom has been to have the funeral at Westminster Abbey and then have the burial elsewhere 27 The tomb of two children thought to be the Princes in the Tower In 1290 Eleanor of Castile queen of Edward I died in Nottinghamshire Over the course of several days the body was brought to Westminster Abbey and at each of the places the cortege rested an Eleanor Cross was erected in memory The most famous of these is Charing Cross the last stop before the funeral Eleanor of Castile is buried in the abbey alongside her husband 28 In 1483 the child king Edward V and his brother Richard known as the Princes in the Tower disappeared while preparing for Edward s coronation at the Tower of London Although it is not known for sure what happened to the boys historians have suspected their uncle who became Richard III of having them murdered In 1674 the remains of two children were discovered at the Tower and were buried in Westminster Abbey with royal honours In 1933 the bones were studied by an anatomist who suggested that they might indeed be the remains of the two princes 142 Although technically not a royal funeral the burial of Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell took place at the abbey in 1658 with full honours On top of the coffin lay an effigy of Cromwell complete with crown 143 On 6 September 1997 the formal though not state funeral of Diana Princess of Wales was held at the abbey It was a royal ceremonial funeral including royal pageantry and Anglican funeral liturgy In the run up to the funeral the railings of the abbey were swamped with flowers and tributes and the event was more widely witnessed than any previous occasion in the abbey s history with 2 billion television viewers worldwide 144 A second public service was held on the following Sunday The burial occurred privately on 6 September on the grounds of her family estate Althorp on a private island 145 On 19 September 2022 the state funeral of Elizabeth II took place at the abbey before her burial at St George s Chapel Windsor 146 Dean and Chapter EditMain article Dean and Chapter of Westminster Westminster Abbey is a collegiate church governed by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster as established by Royal charter of Elizabeth I dated 21 May 1560 147 which created it as the Collegiate Church of St Peter Westminster a royal peculiar under the personal jurisdiction of the sovereign 41 The members of the Chapter are the Dean and four canons residentiary 148 they are assisted by the Receiver General and Chapter Clerk 149 One of the canons is also Rector of St Margaret s Church Westminster and often also holds the post of Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons 150 In addition to the dean and canons there are at present three full time minor canons the precentor the sacrist and the chaplain 151 A series of Priests Vicar assist the minor canons 151 King s Almsmen EditAn establishment of six King s or Queen s Almsmen and women is supported by the abbey they are appointed by royal warrant on the recommendation of the dean and the Home Secretary attend Matins and Evensong on Sundays and do such duties as may be requested in return for which they receive a small stipend when on duty they wear a distinctive red gown with a crowned rose badge on the left shoulder 152 From the late 18th until the late 20th century the almsmen were usually ex servicemen but today they are mostly retired employees of the abbey Historically the King s Almsmen and women were retired Crown servants residing in the Royal Almshouse at Westminster which had been established by Henry VII in connection with his building of the new Lady Chapel to support the priests of his chantry by offering daily prayer The Royal Almshouse survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries but was demolished for road widening in 1779 152 Schools EditMain articles Westminster School and Westminster Abbey Choir School Westminster School is located in the precincts of the abbey Teaching certainly took place from the fourteenth century alongside the monks of the abbey but the school regards its founder as Elizabeth I who dissolved the monastery for the final time and provided for the establishment of the school The schoolboys themselves have added to the history of the abbey often with their rambunctiousness Westminster boys have defaced the Coronation Chair disrupted services and once interrupted a bishop consecration by starting a bare knucle fight in the cloisters 153 One schoolboy carved upon the Coronation Chair that he had slept in it overnight making him probably its longest inhabitant 154 Separately Westminster Abbey Choir School is also located within the abbey grounds and exclusively educates the choirboys who sing for abbey services 155 Music Edit The Westminster Abbey choristers outside 10 Downing Street in 2012 Westminster Abbey has its own choir which has sung at daily services since the 14th century 156 The abbey choir consists of 12 professional adults and up to thirty boy choristers who attend Westminster Abbey Choir School 81 Organ Edit See also List of Westminster Abbey organists The organ was built by Harrison amp Harrison in 1937 then with four manuals and 84 speaking stops and was used for the first time at the coronation of George VI Some pipework from the previous Hill organ of 1848 was revoiced and incorporated in the new scheme The two organ cases designed and built in the late 19th century by John Loughborough Pearson were re instated and coloured in 1959 157 In 1982 and 1987 Harrison amp Harrison enlarged the organ under the direction of the abbey organist Simon Preston to include an additional Lower Choir Organ and a Bombarde Organ The full instrument has five manuals and 109 speaking stops In 2006 the console of the organ was refurbished by Harrison amp Harrison and space was prepared for two additional 16 ft stops on the Lower Choir Organ and the Bombarde Organ 157 Andrew Nethsingha was announced as Organist and Master of the choristers in December 2022 taking up the post in 2023 156 Bells Edit The bells at the abbey were overhauled in 1971 The ring is made up of ten bells hung for change ringing cast in 1971 by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry tuned to the notes F E D C B A G F E and D The Tenor bell in D 588 5 Hz has a weight of 30 cwt 1 qtr 15 lb 3403 lb or 1544 kg 158 In addition there are two service bells cast by Robert Mot in 1585 and 1598 respectively a Sanctus bell cast in 1738 by Richard Phelps and Thomas Lester and two unused bells one cast about 1320 and a second cast in 1742 by Thomas Lester 158 The two service bells and the 1320 bell along with a fourth small silver dish bell kept in the refectory have been noted as being of historical importance by the Church Buildings Council of the Church of England 159 Order of the Bath EditMain article Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry whose spiritual home is the Henry VII Chapel in Westminster Abbey It was founded by George I on 18 May 1725 and devised by Robert Walpole and John Anstis The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight which involved bathing as a symbol of purification as one of its elements 49 Banners of members of the Order of the Bath in the Henry VII Chapel The Order consists of the monarch the Great Master and three Classes of members Knight Grand Cross GCB or Dame Grand Cross GCB Knight Commander KCB or Dame Commander DCB Companion CB 160 The Order of the Bath is the fourth most senior of the British Orders of Chivalry after The Most Noble Order of the Garter The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle and The Most Illustrious Order of St Patrick dormant 161 Members are given stalls complete with their banner crest and stallplate at installation ceremonies at the abbey every four years The ceremonies were stopped in 1847 and recommenced during the reign of George V However there are far many more members than stalls and so some members wait many years for their installation 162 The Queen s Diamond Jubilee Galleries EditThe Westminster Abbey Museum was located in the 11th century vaulted undercroft beneath the former monks dormitory This was one of the oldest areas of the abbey dating back almost to the foundation of the church by Edward the Confessor in 1065 This space had been used as a museum since 1908 163 but was closed to the public in June 2018 when it was replaced as a museum by the Queen s Diamond Jubilee Galleries high up in the abbey s triforium 72 The exhibits include a set of life size effigies of English and British monarchs and their consorts originally made to lie on the coffin in the funeral procession or to be displayed over the tomb The effigies date from the 14th to the 18th century and some even include original clothes 164 On display in the galleries is a portrait of the Queen called The Coronation Theatre Westminster Abbey A Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II painted by Australian artist Ralph Heimans depicting the monarch standing on the Cosmati pavement of Westminster Abbey where she was crowned in 1953 165 Other exhibits include a model of an unbuilt tower designed by architect Christopher Wren a paper model of the abbey showing Queen Victoria s 1837 coronation and the wedding licence of Prince William and Catherine Middleton who were married in the abbey in 2011 89 In popular culture EditThe abbey is mentioned in the play Henry VIII written by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher when a gentleman describes the scene of Anne Boleyn s coronation 166 The abbey has been mentioned in poetry as early as 1598 in a sonnet by Thomas Bastard which begins When I behold with deep astonishment To famous Westminster how there restort Living in brass or stony monument The princes and the worthies of all sort Poetry about the Abbey has also been written by Francis Beaumont 167 and John Betjeman 168 Key scenes in the book and film The Da Vinci Code take place in Westminster Abbey In 2005 the abbey refused filming permission to the crew of the film calling the book theologically unsound Instead the film uses Lincoln Cathedral as a stand in for the abbey 169 The abbey issued a factsheet to their staff to allow them to answer questions from fans that debunked several claims made in the book 170 In 2022 it was announced that the abbey had given rare permission for filming inside the church to the film Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part Two 171 See also Edit Christianity portal London portalArchdeacon of Westminster Dean of Westminster List of churches in London The Abbey a three part BBC TV documentary written and hosted by playwright Alan Bennett Notes Edit a b c d Dimensions of Westminster Abbey PDF westminster abbey org Archived PDF from the original on 4 March 2016 Retrieved 12 January 2016 a b c The Abbey Choir and musicians Westminster Abbey Retrieved 9 September 2022 Newcomb Rexford 1997 Abbey In Johnston Bernard ed Collier s Encyclopedia Vol I A to Ameland First ed New York NY P F Collier pp 8 11 Historic England Westminster Abbey The Collegiate Church of St Peter 1291494 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 9 July 2015 Wilkinson amp Knighton 2010 p 69 sfn error no target CITEREFWilkinsonKnighton2010 help a b Crown amp cloister the royal story of Westminster Abbey James Wilkinson C S Knighton London Scala Publishers Ltd 2010 ISBN 978 1 85759 628 1 OCLC 462895016 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint others link Hassan Jennifer 8 January 2023 Royal Treatment Richmond Times Dispatch Archived from the original on 30 January 2023 Retrieved 30 January 2023 a b c Page William 1909 Benedictine monks St Peter s abbey Westminster in A History of the County of London Volume 1 London Within the Bars Westminster and Southwark London pp 433 457 Archived from the original on 29 July 2018 Retrieved 28 July 2018 a b c Jenkyns 2004 p 12 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help a b Wilkinson amp Knighton 2010 p 45 47 sfn error no target CITEREFWilkinsonKnighton2010 help a b Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey including Saint Margaret s Church UNESCO World Heritage Centre Archived from the original on 24 January 2023 Retrieved 30 January 2023 Castle Stephen 15 June 2018 Stephen Hawking Enters Britain s Valhalla Where Space Is Tight The New York Times New York Times Archived from the original on 2 January 2019 Retrieved 1 January 2019 Morris William 1900 Architecture and history and Westminster Abbey Getty Research Institute London Longmans p 37 Jenkyns 2004 p 10 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help Jenkyns 2004 p 11 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help Westlake 1927 p 51 52 sfn error no target CITEREFWestlake1927 help Eric Fernie in Mortimer ed Edward the Confessor pp 139 143 Pauline Stafford Edith Edward s Wife and Queen in Mortimer ed Edward the Confessor p 137 Carr Wesley 1999 Westminster Abbey Internet Archive London Jarrold Pub p 2 ISBN 978 0 7117 1067 2 Harvey 1993 p 2 Wilkinson amp Knighton 2010 p 11 sfn error no target CITEREFWilkinsonKnighton2010 help Harvey 1993 p 6 ff Jenkyns 2004 p 27 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help Wilkinson amp Knighton 2010 p 16 sfn error no target CITEREFWilkinsonKnighton2010 help Wilkinson amp Knighton 2010 p 17 sfn error no target CITEREFWilkinsonKnighton2010 help a b Wilkinson amp Knighton 2010 p 17 18 sfn error no target CITEREFWilkinsonKnighton2010 help a b c d Wilkinson amp Knighton 2010 p 7 sfn error no target CITEREFWilkinsonKnighton2010 help a b Wilkinson amp Knighton 2010 p 23 sfn error no target CITEREFWilkinsonKnighton2010 help a b An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in London Volume 1 Westminster Abbey London British History Online 1924 Archived from the original on 3 November 2018 Retrieved 8 November 2018 Wilkinson amp Knighton 2010 p 27 29 sfn error no target CITEREFWilkinsonKnighton2010 help Wilkinson amp Knighton 2010 p 30 33 sfn error no target CITEREFWilkinsonKnighton2010 help Jenkyns 2004 p 53 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help a b Jenkyns 2004 p 13 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help a b Wilkinson amp Knighton 2010 p 43 sfn error no target CITEREFWilkinsonKnighton2010 help Harvey Barbara 22 November 2007 The dissolution and Westminster Abbey Ampleforth Abbey Archived from the original on 15 October 2018 Retrieved 28 July 2018 Wilkinson amp Knighton 2010 p 44 sfn error no target CITEREFWilkinsonKnighton2010 help Dixon H Claiborne 1900 The Abbeys of Great Britain T Werner Laurie ISBN 9781508017271 Horn Joyce M 1992 Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541 1857 vol 7 pp 65 67 Jenkyns 2004 p 56 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help Brewer Ebenezer Cobham 2001 Wordsworth Dictionary of Phrase and Fable Wordsworth Editions p 923 ISBN 978 18 402 2310 1 a b England by Diocese Anglicans online Archived from the original on 28 July 2018 Retrieved 28 July 2018 HM The Queen attends King James Bible Service Westminster Abbey 16 November 2011 Archived from the original on 28 July 2018 Retrieved 28 July 2018 Wilkinson amp Knighton 2010 p 53 sfn error no target CITEREFWilkinsonKnighton2010 help a b Jenkyns 2004 p 64 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help House of Commons 1802 Journal of the House of Commons volume 8 1660 1667 pp 26 7 Archived from the original on 27 September 2007 Retrieved 28 July 2018 Attainder predated to 1 January 1649 It is 1648 in the document because of old style year Nicholas Hawksmoor Westminster Abbey Archived from the original on 7 July 2018 Retrieved 28 July 2018 Westminster Abbey Historical ceremonies British History Online www british history ac uk Archived from the original on 16 October 2022 Retrieved 16 October 2022 Black Jeremy 2007 George II Puppet of the Politicians Exeter University of Exeter Press ISBN 978 0 85989 807 2 p 253 a b Wilkinson amp Knighton 2010 p 57 sfn error no target CITEREFWilkinsonKnighton2010 help Jenkyns 2004 p 113 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help Gleanings from Westminster Abbey by George Gilbert Scott with Appendices Supplying Further Particulars and Completing the History of the Abbey Buildings by W Burges 2nd enlarged ed Oxford John Henry and James Parker 1863 1861 Archived from the original on 28 July 2018 Retrieved 28 July 2018 Jenkyns 2004 p 154 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help Preliminary designs for a proposed narthex for Westminster Abbey Royal Institute of British Architects Archived from the original on 28 November 2022 Retrieved 1 October 2022 a b c Westminster Abbey The Collegiate Church of St Peter Non Civil Parish 1291494 Historic England Historic England Archived from the original on 14 May 2022 Retrieved 30 January 2023 a b c d Riddell Fern 6 February 2018 Suffragettes violence and militancy The British Library Archived from the original on 30 December 2022 Retrieved 2 October 2021 a b c Webb Simon 2014 The Suffragette Bombers Britain s Forgotten Terrorists Pen and Sword p 148 ISBN 978 1 78340 064 5 Walker Rebecca 2020 Deeds Not Words The Suffragettes and Early Terrorism in the City of London The London Journal 45 1 59 doi 10 1080 03058034 2019 1687222 ISSN 0305 8034 S2CID 212994082 a b c d e Jones Ian 2016 London Bombed Blitzed and Blown Up The British Capital Under Attack Since 1867 Frontline Books p 65 ISBN 978 1 4738 7901 0 Webb Simon 2014 The Suffragette Bombers Britain s Forgotten Terrorists Pen and Sword p 65 ISBN 978 1 78340 064 5 Bearman C J 2005 An Examination of Suffragette Violence The English Historical Review 120 486 378 doi 10 1093 ehr cei119 ISSN 0013 8266 JSTOR 3490924 General Structure of the Abbey Intact The Scotsman 13 May 1941 p 5 Retrieved 31 January 2023 Famous London buildings severely damaged Irish Independent 12 May 1941 p 5 Retrieved 31 January 2023 Westminster Abbey 135 000 Damage in Raids Belfast News Letter 17 May 1941 p 6 Retrieved 31 January 2023 Westminster Abbey now example of how to handle tourists Episcopal News Service 6 March 2002 Archived from the original on 18 September 2017 Retrieved 18 September 2017 Jenkyns 2004 p 112 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help a b Building work announced for Abbey BBC News 28 June 2009 Archived from the original on 20 October 2022 Retrieved 29 June 2009 Kennedy Maev 29 June 2009 Dean lines up new crown shaped roof for Westminster Abbey The Guardian Archived from the original on 4 December 2013 Retrieved 29 June 2009 Abbey Development Plan Update Westminster Abbey 4 August 2010 Archived from the original on 9 August 2010 Retrieved 7 September 2010 Cosmati pavement Westminster Abbey Archived from the original on 15 May 2013 Retrieved 16 June 2013 Schjonberg Mary Frances 17 September 2010 Benedict becomes first pope to visit Lambeth Westminster Abbey Episcopal Life Online Archived from the original on 11 June 2011 Retrieved 17 September 2010 Every Gorgeous Photo From Prince William and Kate Middleton s 2011 Royal Wedding Town and Country Magazine 27 April 2018 Archived from the original on 7 November 2018 Retrieved 7 November 2018 a b The Queen opens The Queen s Diamond Jubilee Galleries with the Prince of Wales Royal UK 8 June 2018 Archived from the original on 28 July 2018 Retrieved 28 July 2018 Wainwright Oliver 29 May 2018 A gothic space rocket to a secret realm Westminster Abbey s new 23m tower The Guardian Archived from the original on 30 May 2018 Retrieved 31 May 2018 Brown Mark 23 August 2020 Lost medieval sacristy uncovered at Westminster Abbey the Guardian Archived from the original on 15 December 2022 Retrieved 24 January 2023 Vanderhoof Erin 23 March 2021 Kate and William Visit One of the U K s Most Surprising Vaccination Clinics Vanity Fair Archived from the original on 24 June 2022 Retrieved 24 January 2023 Jenkyns 2004 p 23 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help Jenkyns 2004 p 149 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help Heller Jenny E 22 September 1998 Westminster Abbey Elevates 10 Foreigners The New York Times Archived from the original on 19 August 2016 Retrieved 21 July 2016 Streeter Michael 17 October 1997 Heritage Westminster Abbey prepares modern martyrs corner The Independent Archived from the original on 20 August 2016 Retrieved 21 July 2016 a b Carr 1999 p 24 a b Carr 1999 p 21 a b Jenkyns 2004 p 43 44 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help a b Westlake 1927 p 169 sfn error no target CITEREFWestlake1927 help Jenkyns 2004 p 190 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help Jenkyns 2004 p 35 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help Carr 1999 p 18 Westlake 1927 p 162 164 sfn error no target CITEREFWestlake1927 help Kennedy Maev 14 December 2016 New tower will reveal hidden world of Westminster Abbey the Guardian Archived from the original on 24 January 2023 Retrieved 24 January 2023 a b Wainwright Oliver 29 May 2018 A gothic space rocket to a secret realm Westminster Abbey s new 23m tower the Guardian Archived from the original on 5 December 2022 Retrieved 24 January 2023 Jenkyns 2004 p 36 39 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help Kennedy Maev 5 May 2008 Carpet of stone medieval mosaic pavement revealed the Guardian Archived from the original on 24 January 2023 Retrieved 24 January 2023 Jenkyns 2004 p 148 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help Reynolds 2002 p 4 sfn error no target CITEREFReynolds2002 help Reynolds 2002 p 24 sfn error no target CITEREFReynolds2002 help Reynolds 2002 p 10 sfn error no target CITEREFReynolds2002 help Brown Mark 26 September 2018 David Hockney unveils iPad designed window at Westminster Abbey the Guardian Archived from the original on 24 January 2023 Retrieved 24 January 2023 a b c Chapter house and Pyx Chamber English Heritage Archived from the original on 28 July 2018 Retrieved 28 July 2018 a b c Scott Sir George Gilbert 1863 Gleanings from Westminster abbey J Henry and J Parker pp 41 43 56 58 a b Historic England The Chapter House and Pyx Chamber in the abbey cloisters Westminster Abbey 1003579 National Heritage List for England Retrieved 20 January 2017 Noppen J G 1932 The Westminster Apocalypse and Its Source The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 61 355 146 159 ISSN 0951 0788 Jenkyns 2004 p 57 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help Carr 1999 p 8 Carr 1999 p 15 Trowles 2008 p 126 Brayley Edward Wedlake 1818 The History and Antiquities of the Abbey Church of St Peter Westminster Including Notices and Biographical Memoirs of the Abbots and Deans of that Foundation proprietor J P Neale and sold by Longman Hurst Rees Orme and Brown Lindley 2003 p 208 Jenkyns 2004 p 48 53 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help Jenkyns 2004 p 60 61 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help Trowles 2008 p 127 Carr 1999 p 4 Westlake 1927 p 50 55 sfn error no target CITEREFWestlake1927 help Westlake 1927 p 56 sfn error no target CITEREFWestlake1927 help Wilkinson amp Knighton 2010 p 52 sfn error no target CITEREFWilkinsonKnighton2010 help A look around Frogmore the Royals secret garden which opens to the public this week The Telegraph 4 June 2016 Archived from the original on 29 July 2018 Retrieved 28 July 2018 Jenkyns 2004 p 63 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help Dunton Larkin 1896 The World and Its People Silver Burdett p 26 Smith Mrs A Murray 1906 Westminster Abbey London A amp C Black Archived from the original on 9 November 2012 Retrieved 12 November 2010 Jenkyns 2004 p 83 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help Jenkyns 2004 p 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Knighton 2010 p 62 sfn error no target CITEREFWilkinsonKnighton2010 help Jenkyns 2004 p 174 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help HRH Prince William of Wales and Miss Catherine Middleton to Wed at Abbey Westminster Abbey Archived from the original on 26 March 2011 Retrieved 25 December 2018 Newsbeat Royal wedding Prince William and Kate Middleton marry BBC 29 April 2011 Archived from the original on 2 May 2011 Retrieved 8 January 2012 Wilkinson amp Knighton 2010 p 36 sfn error no target CITEREFWilkinsonKnighton2010 help Wilkinson amp Knighton 2010 p 54 sfn error no target CITEREFWilkinsonKnighton2010 help Wilkinson amp Knighton 2010 p 80 sfn error no target CITEREFWilkinsonKnighton2010 help Diana Returns Home BBC News 1997 Archived from the original on 25 October 2016 Retrieved 21 July 2016 Foster Max McGee Luke Owoseje Toyin 19 September 2022 Who s on the guest list for Queen Elizabeth II s state funeral CNN Archived from the original on 21 September 2022 Retrieved 19 September 2022 Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret Westminster Act 1972 London UK HMSO 1972 p 1 John Hall to be Dean of Westminster Church Times 2 November 2006 Archived from the original on 28 July 2018 Retrieved 28 July 2018 Sir Stephen Lamport Asian Women of Achievement Archived from the original on 28 July 2018 Retrieved 28 July 2018 Interview Robert Wright Sub dean of Westminster Abbey Rector of St Margaret s Church Times 26 May 2009 Archived from the original on 28 July 2018 Retrieved 28 July 2018 a b Royal Appointments Crockfords Clerical Directory Archived from the original on 28 July 2018 Retrieved 28 July 2018 a b Fox Christine Merie 2012 The Royal Almshouse at Westminster c 1500 c 1600 PDF pp 248 250 Archived PDF from the original on 10 October 2022 Jenkyns 2004 p 56 57 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help Jenkyns 2004 p 65 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help Making all the right noises An Interview with Jonathan Milton headmaster of the Westminster Abbey Choir School KCW Today 15 September 2017 Archived from the original on 10 January 2019 Retrieved 28 July 2018 a b Sawer Patrick Gatten Emma 23 December 2022 Westminster Abbey organist who oversaw late Queen s funeral music to become Yale professor MSN Archived from the original on 30 January 2023 Retrieved 30 January 2023 a b Westminster Abbey St Peter Broad Sanctuary Westminster Middlesex N00646 The National Pipe Organ Register Archived from the original on 20 October 2022 Retrieved 31 July 2012 a b Westminster Collegiate Church of S Peter Westminster Abbey Archived 16 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine Dove s Guide for Church Bell Ringers 25 October 2006 Retrieved 16 October 2008 Database of Historically Significant Bells and Bell Frames Churchcare website Church of England 1 April 2008 Archived from the original on 29 July 2010 Retrieved 16 October 2008 search on Westminster Abbey for bell details Statutes of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath Harrison and Sons 1925 Yale D E C 1 November 1982 Precedence in England and Wales By G D Squibb Oxford Clarendon Press Oxford University Press 1981 xxviii 97 and Appendices and Index 42pp 12 50 net The Cambridge Law Journal 41 2 393 394 doi 10 1017 S0008197300108980 ISSN 1469 2139 S2CID 145186502 Wilkinson amp Knighton 2010 p 78 sfn error no target CITEREFWilkinsonKnighton2010 help Trowles 2008 p 156 Wilkinson amp Knighton 2010 p 51 52 sfn error no target CITEREFWilkinsonKnighton2010 help Queen portrait unveiled in Australia BBC News 29 September 2012 Retrieved 23 January 2023 Jenkyns 2004 p 170 171 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help Jenkyns 2004 p 125 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help Jenkyns 2004 p 190 191 sfn error no target CITEREFJenkyns2004 help Westminster Abbey closes doors to Da Vinci Code The Guardian 1 June 2005 Archived from the original on 24 January 2023 Retrieved 24 January 2023 Westminster Abbey counters Da Vinci Code The Guardian 31 May 2005 Archived from the original on 24 January 2023 Retrieved 24 January 2023 Duff Seamus 9 July 2022 Mission Impossible makes history for being allowed to film in Westminster Abbey mirror Retrieved 24 January 2023 References EditBradley S and N Pevsner 2003 The Buildings of England London 6 Westminster New Haven Yale University Press pp 105 207 ISBN 0 7117 1067 8 Carr W 1999 Westminster Abbey Norwich Jarrold ISBN 0 300 09595 3 Mortimer Richard ed Edward the Confessor The Man and the Legend The Boydell Press 2009 Eric Fernie Edward the Confessor s Westminster Abbey pp 139 150 Warwick Rodwell New Glimpses of Edward the Confessor s Abbey at Westminster pp 151 167 Richard Gem Craftsmen and Administrators in the Building of the Confessor s Abbey pp 168 172 ISBN 978 1 84383 436 6 Harvey B 1993 Living and Dying in England 1100 1540 The Monastic Experience Ford Lecture series Oxford Clarendon Press ISBN 978 1861976482 Jenkyns R 2004 Westminster Abbey A Thousand Years of National Pageantry London Profile Books ISBN 0 19 820161 3 Morton H V 1951 1988 In Search of London London Methuen ISBN 978 0711724365 Reynolds C 2002 Stained Glass of Westminster Abbey Great Britain Jarrold ISBN 0 413 18470 6 Robinson Brian 1992 Silver Pennies amp Linen Towels The Story of the Royal Maundy Spink amp Sons Ltd ISBN 978 0 907605 35 5 Westlake H F 1927 Story of Westminster Abbey London Philip Allan amp Co Trowles T 2008 Treasures of Westminster Abbey London Scala ISBN 978 1 85759 454 6 Wilkinson J amp Knighton C S 2010 Crown and Cloister The Royal Story of Westminster Abbey London Scala Further reading EditBrooke Hunt Violet 1902 The Story of Westminster Abbey London James Nisbet Rackham R B March 1909 The Nave of Westminster Proceedings of the British Academy 1909 1910 4 33 95 Westminster Abbey 900 Years The Commemorative Book Dean and Chapter of Westminster 1965 49 pages a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint postscript link External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Westminster Abbey Listen to this article 15 minutes source source This audio file was created from a revision of this article dated 21 April 2005 2005 04 21 and does not reflect subsequent edits Audio help More spoken articles Official website Walter Thornbury Old and New London Volume 3 1878 pp 394 462 British History Online Westminster Abbey Article at Encyclopaedia Britannica Historic images of Westminster Abbey Archived 7 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine Westminster Abbey A Peek Inside Archived 28 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine slideshow by Life magazine Keith Short Sculptor Images of stone carving for Westminster Abbey Carved Crests for the Knights of the Bath A history of the choristers and choir school of Westminster Abbey Catholic Encyclopedia Westminster Abbey Archived 25 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine Adrian Fletcher s Paradoxplace Westminster Abbey Pages Photos Archived 12 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine A panorama of Westminster Abbey in daytime 3D QuickTime version Westminster Abbey on Twitter Audio Guide of Westminster Abbey Archived 20 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Westminster Abbey amp oldid 1136685704, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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