Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey or Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is a large, mainly Gothic abbey church in the City of Westminster, London. It began as a community of Benedictine monks in around 960 founded by Saint Dunstan and King Edgar.

King 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. In 1066, William the Conqueror was crowned King of England and the Abbey has been the site of all coronations of the English and British monarchs since.

In 1245, Henry III who selected the site for his burial, began rebuilding the Abbey in the Gothic style. Work was incomplete when it stopped around 1269 after Henry’s death. The old Romanesque nave remained attached to the new building for over a century until it was pulled down in the late 14th century and rebuilt from 1376, closely following the original design.

Henry VII , who is buried in the Abbey with his wife, added a Perpendicular style chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1503 (known as the Henry VII Chapel or the "Lady Chapel").

Henry VIII assumed direct royal control in 1539 and granted the abbey the status of a cathedral by charter in 1540. The abbey was restored to the Benedictines under the Catholic Mary I of England, but they were again ejected under Elizabeth I in 1559. It was granted the status of a Church of England "Royal Peculiar"—a church responsible directly to the sovereign—by Queen Elizabeth I in 1560.

The abbey's two western towers were built between 1722 and 1745 by Nicholas Hawksmoor, constructed from Portland stone to an early example of a Gothic Revival design. Purbeck marble was used for the walls and the floors of Westminster Abbey, although the various tombstones are made of different types of marble. Further rebuilding and restoration occurred in the 19th century under Sir George Gilbert Scott.

The Abbey is the burial site of more than 3,300 persons, usually of prominence in British history: at least 16 monarchs, eight Prime Ministers, poets laureate, actors, scientists, military leaders, and the Unknown Warrior whose grave is the only one in the abbey on which it is forbidden to walk.

All of the tombs and monuments does mean that some parts fo the Abbey are quite difficult to get around. My advice is to go early in the day before the majority of tourists flood the building.

Here are a few photos of this magnificent building.