Westminster Abbey
In the mid-10th century, a community of Benedictine monks settled on Thorney Island in the River Thames. This location became the site of an abbey dedicated to Saint Peter long before any stone church stood there. Historians agree that a monastery existed prior to 1066, though its exact founding remains obscure. One legend claims Sæberht of Essex founded it, while another points to the fictional King Lucius. A more grounded tradition describes a fisherman who saw a vision of Saint Peter near the water. The Fishmongers' Company still honors this story by giving the abbey a salmon each year. By 959, Dunstan and King Edgar installed the monastic community officially. Archaeologists have since found pottery and foundations from this early period beneath the current structure. Edward the Confessor began rebuilding the church between 1042 and 1052 to create a royal burial place. Leofsi Duddason served as the master stonemason for this Romanesque project. Godwin and Wendelburh Gretsyd acted as patrons, funding the construction alongside Teinfrith. The building was completed around 1060 and consecrated on the 28th of December 1065. Edward died just five days later and was buried inside. His wife Edith joined him nine years after his death. The only visual record of this original church survives in the Bayeux Tapestry.
Henry III ordered the construction of a new Gothic church starting on the 6th of July 1245. Henry of Reynes served as the master mason for this massive undertaking. The first phase included the eastern end, transepts, and the easternmost bay of the nave. A rich shrine dedicated to Edward the Confessor stood at the heart of the new design. David of Oxford donated 4,000 marks to fund the golden shrine with jewelled figures. Licoricia of Winchester contributed another £2,500 through a forced payment. Up to 400 workers labored on the site during summer months. They included stonecutters, marble polishers, carpenters, glaziers, and general laborers. John of Gloucester replaced Henry of Reynes around 1253, followed by Robert of Beverley in 1260. Construction halted near 1269 after spending over £29,000. A consecration ceremony took place on the 13th of October 1269 when Edward's remains moved to their final shrine location. Work resumed decades later under Abbot Nicholas Litlyngton and King Richard II. Henry Yevele designed the western end in Perpendicular Gothic style between 1376 and 1471. The west towers were not built until the 1740s by architects Nicholas Hawksmoor and John James. The Henry VII Chapel stands as a prime example of late Perpendicular architecture. It was completed by 1509 though decoration continued for years afterward. The chapel features a fan vault ceiling described by Washington Irving as resembling a cobweb.
Henry VIII dissolved the monastery in 1535 during the English Reformation. His officers assessed the abbey's annual income at £3,000 before seizing its treasures. The golden feretory holding Edward the Confessor's coffin was melted down. Monks hid the saint's bones to prevent total destruction. William Benson became dean of the new cathedral formed from the abbey. Five monks joined twelve newly created canons to run the institution. The Westminster diocese dissolved in 1550 but the abbey remained a second cathedral until 1556. Elizabeth I re-established it as a royal peculiar on the 21st of May 1560. This status made the church directly accountable to the sovereign rather than a bishop. She renamed it the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter. A Dean and Chapter now govern the site under a royal charter. Elizabeth also refounded Westminster School providing education for forty King's Scholars. These scholars shout Vivat Rex or Vivat Regina during coronations. The Dean of Westminster serves as chair of the school governors today. During the Civil War, altars stained glass and organs were damaged or destroyed. Oliver Cromwell received an elaborate funeral there in 1658 before his body was disinterred in 1661. Samuel Pepys visited in 1669 and kissed the exhumed body of Queen Catherine de Valois.
Forty English and British monarchs have been crowned at Westminster Abbey since 1066. William the Conqueror holds the first documented coronation that year. Henry III could not be crowned here in 1216 due to hostile forces occupying London. He was crowned instead in Gloucester Cathedral and later at Westminster in 1220. The Coronation Chair has held the Stone of Scone from 1301 until 1996. Scottish nationalists stole the stone briefly in 1950 but it returned to the chair. On the 6th of May 2023 Charles III took the throne within this historic space. The crossing area functions as a theatre for grand events with temporary seating. Twenty-nine coronations of queens consort have occurred including Queen Camilla's recent ceremony. Anne Boleyn received her separate coronation in 1533 after marrying Henry VIII. Mary I's husband Philip of Spain never received a second coronation due to political concerns. At least sixteen royal weddings have taken place since 1100. Princess Elizabeth married Prince Philip Mountbatten here in 1947. Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon became the first royal bride to leave flowers on the Unknown Warrior grave in 1923. Diana Princess of Wales had a ceremonial funeral watched by two billion people worldwide on the 6th of September 1997. Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral followed on the 19th of September 2022 marking the first monarch funeral in over 260 years.
Over 3,300 notable figures lie buried or commemorated within Westminster Abbey grounds. Isaac Newton died in 1727 and his lavish monument boosted burial honors for British citizens. By 1900 writer William Morris called the site a National Valhalla. Politicians like Pitt the Elder Charles James Fox and Clement Attlee rest here. Scientists surround Newton's tomb including Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking. Actors such as David Garrick Henry Irving and Laurence Olivier are interred there. Musicians tend toward the north aisle with Henry Purcell and Ralph Vaughan Williams. George Frideric Handel lies in Poets' Corner among poets and writers. Geoffrey Chaucer was buried around 1400 while employed as Clerk of King's Works. Edmund Spenser joined him nearby in 1599. John Dryden Alfred Lord Tennyson Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling follow later. Ben Jonson stands upright in the north aisle while Aphra Behn rests in the cloisters. Eighteen English Scottish and British monarchs occupy graves inside the church. Edward the Confessor Henry III Edward I Richard II and Henry V all lie here. Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scots were last to receive full tomb effigies. George II died in 1760 becoming the final monarch buried in the abbey. The Unknown Warrior grave sits just inside the Great West Door center nave. An unidentified soldier killed during World War One rests beneath this single floor stone. Foreign heads of state begin every visit by paying respects at this sacred spot.
Incendiary bombs struck Westminster Abbey precincts on the night of the 10th of May 1941. Fire-watchers stopped flames from consuming the whole church but damaged three residences. The lantern tower above the crossing collapsed leaving the building open to sky. Damage costs reached £135,000 though no lives were lost during the attack. A replica Stone of Scone now sits at Scone Palace in Scotland after original theft attempts. Suffragettes planted a bomb inside the abbey on the 11th of June 1914 blowing off part of the Coronation Chair. Four Scottish nationalists broke into the church in 1950 stealing the actual Stone of Scone. In 2008 conservators began cleaning the Cosmati pavement for two years. This 700-year-old tile floor contains nearly 30,000 pieces of colored glass and stone. It measures almost 25 feet square and marks where coronations take place. Richard Ware commissioned the design after traveling to Rome in 1258. Recent research suggests its geometry represents a rhombic dodecahedron symbolizing universal harmony. The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries opened in 2018 high within the triforium. Ptolemy Dean designed the Weston Tower finished that same year with a lift shaft. The project cost £22.9 million over five years. On the 17th of September 2010 Pope Benedict XVI became first pontiff to enter the abbey. He participated in evening prayer alongside Archbishop Rowan Williams. A vaccination center opened in Poets' Corner on the 10th of March 2021 administering COVID-19 doses.
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Common questions
When was Westminster Abbey founded and who established the monastic community?
A Benedictine monastic community settled on Thorney Island in the mid-10th century before 959 when Dunstan and King Edgar officially installed them. Historians agree a monastery existed prior to 1066 though its exact founding remains obscure with legends citing Sæberht of Essex or King Lucius.
Who designed the Gothic church built by Henry III starting in 1245?
Henry of Reynes served as the master mason for the new Gothic church construction that began on the 6th of July 1245. John of Gloucester replaced him around 1253 followed by Robert of Beverley in 1260 while Henry Yevele later designed the western end between 1376 and 1471.
What happened to Westminster Abbey during the English Reformation under Henry VIII?
Henry VIII dissolved the monastery in 1535 and officers assessed the abbey's annual income at £3,000 before seizing its treasures including melting down the golden feretory. Elizabeth I re-established it as a royal peculiar on the 21st of May 1560 renaming it the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter.
Which monarchs have been crowned at Westminster Abbey since 1066?
Forty English and British monarchs have been crowned at Westminster Abbey since William the Conqueror held the first documented coronation in 1066. Charles III took the throne within this historic space on the 6th of May 2023 following twenty-nine coronations of queens consort.
Who are buried or commemorated inside Westminster Abbey grounds?
Over 3,300 notable figures lie buried or commemorated within Westminster Abbey grounds including Isaac Newton who died in 1727 and scientists like Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking. Eighteen English Scottish and British monarchs occupy graves inside the church with Edward the Confessor Henry III and Richard II among them.
What damage occurred to Westminster Abbey during World War Two and when was it repaired?
Incendiary bombs struck Westminster Abbey precincts on the night of the 10th of May 1941 causing the lantern tower above the crossing to collapse. Damage costs reached £135,000 though no lives were lost during the attack while recent research suggests its geometry represents a rhombic dodecahedron symbolizing universal harmony.