Another day of rain, so we visited Westminster Abbey. 10am on a winter Thursday morning, and the abbey was teeming with tourists. It took us close to 3 hours to explore within its hallowed walls.
The abbey began as a community of Benedictine monks around the year 960. Around 1050 Edward the Confessor (buried in the abbey with his wife) began rebuilding the structure. In 1066 William the Conqueror was crowned King of England in the abbey and from William to Elizabeth II, all except two monarchs have been crowned here.
Taking photographs inside this sacred and historic place is strictly forbidden. The building is not only a house of God and a symbol of the Monarchy, it is filled to the rafters with tombs, effigies and memorials to the departed. Everywhere are marble statues depicting grieving mortals and angels.
It is truly an amazing place with its soaring ceilings and beautiful relics each with its own rich texture and mystique. The ceiling of the Lady's Chapel with its fan-vaulted roof is a spectacular piece of medieval architecture.
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| View from an abbey cloister |
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| Inner Courtyard |
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| Britain's Oldest Door, Circa 1050 |
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| Abbey Gardens |
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| Doorway Added in 1371-1372 when Sick and Aged Monks Were Given Little Rooms Around this Cloister |
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| Looking at the Houses of Parliament from Westminster Abbey |
I was excited to see the tombs of Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. King James the 1st had both women placed in the abbey, giving his mother (Mary Queen of Scots) a more elaborate tomb than that of Elizabeth. Eddie was excited to visit "Poet's Corner," to view the tombs of such great writers as Charles Dickens, Geoffrey Chaucer, Edmund Spenser and Rudyard Kipling. Also interred in the abbey are Sir Laurence Olivier, Charles Darwin, and Stephen Hawking.
We both enjoyed exploring the triforium (hidden attic), the gallery above the arches of the nave. This space only recently opened up to the public after 700 years of being inaccessible.
There are also curious things one wouldn't expect to find at the abbey. Here is the oldest door in the UK. And here is what may be the world's oldest embalmed animal, a parrot. It belonged to Frances Stuart, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox, who died in 1702. The African grey parrot was her companion for the last 40 years of her life and passed away only a few days after her.
Before leaving, we viewed the Coronation Chair. The chair was created to hold the Stone of Scone which King Edward I took from Scotland, but it has since been returned. The Stone will return to Westminster Abbey for future coronations.
Returning to Kensington, we stopped into Gail's Bakery for sultana scones with clotted cream and jam.
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| Waiting for the Tube |
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| Gail's Bakery, our go-to place for scones with clotted cream |
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