Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey stands in the City of Westminster beside the Palace of Westminster and St Margaret’s Church. The abbey has been a coronation church since 1066 and has buried eighteen monarchs. Royal weddings have taken place here since the 12th century. The present Gothic church was begun in 1245 by Henry III to honour Edward the Confessor. In 1987 the abbey became part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site with the Palace of Westminster and St Margaret’s. The abbey houses over three thousand graves of kings, queens, prime ministers and poets. Edward the Confessor’s Romanesque church once stood on the site and fragments survive in the undercroft. Henry III’s Gothic rebuilding created the choir, transepts and Lady Chapel seen today. The abbey’s Henry VII Chapel is praised as a wonder of the world by the antiquarian John Leland. William Morris called the abbey a national Valhalla for the famous figures buried there. Visitors walk beneath the Cosmati pavement before the High Altar. The shrine of Edward the Confessor lies behind the main altar. The chapter house where Henry III held assemblies still stands. The Coronation Chair in the nave holds the Stone of Scone taken by Edward I. The abbey’s Gothic architecture mixes French, English and later styles across its nave, transepts and chapels.