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Aug 6, 2024 · The Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey, including St Margaret’s Church, was inscribed as a cultural World Heritage Site in 1987. The inclusion of this group of buildings on the world heritage list makes them one of 1092 sites worldwide considered to have ‘Outstanding Universal Value’ as part of the world’s cultural and natural ...
The abbey, the Palace of Westminster and St Margaret's Church became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987 because of their historic and symbolic significance. The church's Gothic architecture is chiefly inspired by 13th-century French and English styles, although some sections of the church have earlier Romanesque styles or later Baroque and modern styles.
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- Coronations, weddings, and burials
- Interesting facts about Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, London church that is the site of coronations and other ceremonies of national significance. It stands just west of the Houses of Parliament in the Greater London borough of Westminster. Situated on the grounds of a former Benedictine monastery, it was refounded as the Collegiate Church of St. Peter in Westminster by Queen Elizab...
Legend relates that Saberht, the first Christian king of the East Saxons, founded a church on a small island in the River Thames, then known as Thorney but later called the west minster (or monastery), and that this church was miraculously consecrated by St. Peter. It is certain that about 785 ce there was a small community of monks on the island and that the monastery was enlarged and remodeled by St. Dunstan of Canterbury about 960. St. Edward the Confessor built a new church on the site, which was consecrated on December 28, 1065. It was of considerable size and cruciform in plan. In 1245 Henry III pulled down the whole of Edward’s church (except the nave) and replaced it with the present abbey church in the pointed Gothic style of the period. The design and plan were strongly influenced by contemporary French cathedral architecture.
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The rebuilding of the Norman-style nave was begun by the late 1300s under the architect Henry Yevele and continued intermittently until Tudor times. The Early English Gothic design of Henry III’s time predominates, however, giving the whole church the appearance of having been built at one time. The chapel of Henry VII (begun c. 1503), in Perpendicular Gothic style, replaced an earlier chapel and is famed for its exquisite fan vaulting. Above the original carved stalls hang the banners of the medieval Order of the Bath.
Since William the Conqueror in 1066, every British sovereign has been crowned in the abbey except Edward V and Edward VIII, neither of whom was crowned. Additionally, Westminster Abbey has a long tradition of royal weddings, beginning with Henry I’s marriage to Matilda of Scotland in 1100. The only other reigning monarch to be wed in the abbey was Richard II, who married Anne of Bohemia in 1382. The abbey was the venue for the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in 2011.
Many kings and queens are buried near the shrine of Edward the Confessor or in Henry VII’s chapel. The last sovereign to be buried in the abbey was George II (died 1760); since then they have been interred at Windsor Castle. The abbey is crowded with the tombs and memorials of famous British subjects, such as Isaac Newton, David Livingstone, and Ernest Rutherford. Part of the south transept is well known as Poets’ Corner and includes the tombs of Geoffrey Chaucer, Ben Jonson (who was buried upright), John Dryden, Robert Browning, and many others. The north transept has many memorials to British statesmen. The grave of the “Unknown Warrior,” whose remains were brought from Flanders (Belgium) in 1920, is in the centre of the nave near the west door.
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•Westminster Abbey is called a “royal peculiar” because it is under the jurisdiction of the British monarch and not the Church of England.
•Thirty royals are buried in the abbey, including 13 kings, 4 queens regnant, and 11 queens consort. In addition, James I’s mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, and his daughter Elizabeth are interred there.
•Geoffrey Chaucer was the first poet to be buried (1400) in what became known as Poets’ Corner. However, he was initially recognized for his service as the clerk of the king’s works. It was not until Edmund Spenser was buried next to him some 200 years later that the idea for Poets’ Corner was formed.
•In a plot worthy of a novel, Charles Dickens was interred at Westminster Abbey against his wishes. He had requested a simple burial in a location close to his country home in Kent. Rochester Cathedral was ultimately chosen, and a grave was dug there. However, in a scheme reportedly instigated by Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, the dean of Westminster, the author was buried in Poets’ Corner. Stanley thought Dickens added prestige not only to the abbey but also to himself.
•Poet Lord Byron was refused burial in Westminster Abbey after his death in 1824 because his life was considered to have been too scandalous. However, a memorial stone was finally placed on the floor of the abbey in 1969.
•The abbey is home to the oldest door in Britain. Using dendrochronology, scientists discovered that a wooden door leading to the Chapter House was built in the 1050s.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The Westminster World Heritage site is one of four such sites in London. The nearest is the Tower of London, two miles downriver overlooking the River Thames. Maritime Greenwich is further to the east, and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is in the far west of metropolitan London.
1226284. The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative chambers which occupy the building. The palace is one of the centres of political life in the ...
In monastic times, they were used to grow food and to provide a space for quiet meditation. One of the oldest surviving parts of Westminster Abbey, built around 1070. It still possesses many medieval features including tiles from the 11th century. Ten statues to 20th Century Christians who gave up their lives for their beliefs, including Dr ...
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