Travel Report: Westminster Abbey, London.

Westminster Abbey, London.

May 2019.

You’d be hard pushed to find a more historical place in all of England than the sublime Westminster Abbey. For this is the staggeringly beautiful gothic abbey church where kings and queens have been crowned since 1066. Where royal weddings have unfolded, including the union of Prince Albert The Duke of York (later King George VI) and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later The Queen Mother) on the 26th of April 1923.

Moreover, Westminster Abbey stands as the final resting place of no less than seventeen British monarchs. Not to mention some of The UK’s most acclaimed politicians, scientists, artists, writers and actors. Over the years, I must have passed this breathtaking building maybe a dozen times. Finally, on this grey chilly May morning, it was time to head inside.

Not booking my ticket in advance turned out to be a major boo boo. The queue that day was hellish, but typical prior to the global pandemic. According to The Abbey’s official blurb back then, around a million people passed through the abbey’s doors every year.

Thus it’s a wise idea to purchase your ticket in advance, which entitles one to join a shorter queue. Unfortunately, muggins was not wise and had to join the back of the horrific general entry line. You live and you learn.

Westminster Abbey, London.

Crossing my fingers that it wasn’t going to start raining, I sighed at the slowness of the queue’s movement and decided to embark on an online journey through The Abbey’s history. Just a look through the highlights, so to speak. Because to do any kind of justice to it, you’d be better off heading to a bookstore for a chunky hardback.

Westminster Abbey’s origins stretch back to the 960s when King Edgar The Peaceful built St. Peter’s Abbey for a community of Benedictine monks. Later, in 1042, King Edward The Confessor had the abbey rebuilt in order to create a royal burial church. Completed in 1060, it was England’s first Romanesque Church and indeed old Edward ended up here when he died in 1066.

The abbey’s first documented coronation was that of William The Conquerer on Christmas Day, 1066. Since then, every single British Monarch bar two has been crowned here. One who didn’t make it to The Abbey was Edward V, who historians believe was most likely murdered in the Tower of London before he could take the throne. The poor little guy was just 12 years old.

The abbey we see today traces bak to 1245, when Henry III rebuilt it in the Anglo-French Gothic style. It was at this point of my reading that, at long last, I reached the ticket counter. Roughly one hour after I’d joined the queue.

Adventures in London.

I cannot overstate the wow factor upon entering Westminster Abbey. Straight away you see why this is one of Britain’s finest examples of early gothic architecture. Though, as I progressed, I quickly realised that a vast array of styles joined the party over the subsequent centuries.

Despite all the maps and my own audio guide, I swiftly got lost in The Abbey’s considerable depths. It was crazy busy, way too many people for my liking. Similarly disappointing, was that you aren’t permitted to take photography inside. Nevertheless, I was very sneaky and managed to grab a host of shots whenever I sensed I was free from the watchful eyes of the security wardens.

One of the first things I saw was the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, located at the western end of The Nave. The soldier interred here fell sometime between 1914-1916 during World War I. The coffin, complete with large chunks of French soil, was brought over to London in 1920 for a burial ceremony at The Abbey.

And here he’s remained ever since, the ultimate symbol of the sacrifices made for freedom, king and country. Just a few weeks after my visit, I turned on the TV one day to see images of President Donald Trump and The First Lady at Westminster Abbey. And they were standing right on the spot where I’d taken my shot of the tomb.

Adventures in London.

Just across from The Unknown Warrior, I scanned my eyes over a string of memorial stones set into the floor. One is a tribute to James Ramsay MacDonald, Britain’s first Labour Prime Minister, whose funeral took place here in November 1937.

Like many of The UK’s most noted politicians, MacDonald was eligible for burial within Westminster Abbey. However, on this occasion his family declined and laid him to rest alongside his wife in Lossiemouth, Scotland.

I’ve never really been one for lighting candles in churches. But that day, swept up by the beauty of my surroundings and the magnitude of its history, I felt moved to fill out a prayer card and light a candle for a very special person.

Dorothy ‘Dolly’ Thomas was my paternal grandmother. A kind woman who loved listening to the radio while doing chores around the house. Who worked as a tea trolley lady at The Gillette Factory on Great West Road. A lady who knocked out an excellent shepherd’s pie and salmon and cucumber sandwiches. With the crusts cut off, naturally. When I was growing up, she made a tradition of buying me a new pair of shoes for each school year.

Westminster Abbey, London.

Nanny Tommy passed away quite unexpectedly in Charing Cross Hospital back in 1998 aged 84 years old. Hence it was a special, albeit bittersweet moment when I dispatched a silent prayer in her memory and added my candle to the rows of flickering lights. Sleep well, nan.

I came face to face with some breathtaking tombs that afternoon. The vault pictured above belongs to King Henry V, whose short reign was famed for his many military victories. Especially in The Hundred Years’ War in France, which helped establish Britain as one of the world’s most fearsome military forces.

Henry was also a major financial contributor to Westminster Abbey. In the end though, all that French fighting became his undoing and he died outside Paris on August the 31st 1422. The exact cause of death seems a little vague. But Henry certainly suffered from both dysentery and heatstroke during The Siege of Cons-sur-Loire. His burial at Westminster Abbey took place on the 7th of November.

One of the juicer tombs on display is that of Mary Queen of Scots. What a scandalous tale her life story is! She was a woman who acceded to the Scottish throne aged just six days old. Who married Francis II of France aged sixteen, but returned to Scotland just two years later when her husband died of suspected poisoning.

A Right Royal Scandal.

She remarried in 1566 to her half-cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. This marriage didn’t last long either, because just a few years later he was found murdered in the family garden.

The man suspected of orchestrating his death, James Hepburn the 4th Earl of Bothwell, then married Mary the month after Darnley’s death! Make of that what you will folks, but Mary’s family and the government of the day were not happy. As a result, she had to abdicate and flee south, where she asked Queen Elizabeth I for protection.

Unfortunately, Elizabeth did not turn out to be an ally for Mary. Apparently, Mary had once made claims on the English throne and Elizabeth had not forgotten. And so it came to pass that Mary spent the next eighteen years in a series of British castle prisons.

And then, in 1586, the crown found her guilty of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth and she was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle. Originally buried at Peterborough Cathedral, it was her son King James VI & I who ordered Mary’s remains to be transferred to Westminster Abbey in 1612.

Westminster Abbey, London.

Architecturally, there are endless wow moments as you make your way through Westminster Abbey. But for me the highlight is definitely The Chapel of Henry VII, also known as Lady Chapel.

With its frankly ludicrous fan vaulted ceiling, stained glass windows and bronze effigies, the 16th century historian John Leland once described this place as “the wonder of the world”. Dating back to 1516, the chapel continues to make royal history today when The Queen and The Prince of Wales install new knights here. The tradition takes place every four years, I’m still waiting for their call.

One of The Abbey’s quirkiest sights is the tiny but beautiful RAF (Royal Air Force) Chapel, located at Lady Chapel’s eastern end. It stands in honour of those brave souls in The Royal Air Force who fell during The Battle of Britain in 1940. It was during this time that The Abbey itself sustained bomb damage, with several blown in windows. A small hole in the wall from that time has been cleverly preserved with a glass cover on the outside.

Poet’s Corner.

My favourite part of Westminster Abbey lies in the south transept. Here, one can meet the giants of British literature at Poet’s Corner. The first wordsmith to be buried here was Geoffrey Chaucer, the so-called “greatest poet of The Middle Ages“. In truth I had to suffer his work as a reluctant teenager while taking my A-Levels. But hey, that was a long time ago, maybe I should give him another chance.

And yet, as celebrated as Chaucer was for works like The Canterbury Tales, the main reason he got a spot in Westminster Abbey was due to his clerical work at The Palace of Westminster. His incredible tomb, made by Nicholas Brigham in 1555, is truly a sight to behold.

Elsewhere, there are the tombs of two great Victorian poets, Robert Browning and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. And a memorial stone to Mary Ann Evans, who wrote seven highly acclaimed novels, including Middlemarch, under her male pen name George Eliot.

Evans didn’t actually qualify for a Westminster Abbey burial because of her denial of the Christian faith. The powers that be also frowned upon her well publicised adulterous affair with the philosopher George Henry Lewes.

A personal favourite for me was the memorial stone for C.S. Lewis, author of the brilliant fantasy novel series The Chronicles of Narnia. Indeed I was a huge fan of these growing up, particularly The Lion Witch and The Wardrobe, which I read and binge watched in its 1979 TV movie form.

Westminster Abbey, London.

Lewis was 64 years old when he passed away on the 22nd of November 1963. Sadly news of his death got swallowed up in the chaos of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, which took place on the same day. The Lewis family happily accepted the offer of a stone at Westminster Abbey, though the great writer ultimately rested in the graveyard at The Holy Trinity Church in Headington, Oxford.

It was several hours after I entered The Abbey that I wound my way into The Cloisters. This is where the monks of The Middle Ages spent their time reading, writing and discussing important religious matters of the day. Dozens of monks, they say, lie buried under these floors, which are now awash with memorial stones.

One cloister memorial that caught my eye was for Edmund Halley, Britain’s second royal astronomer. A highly respected mathematician and meteorologist, Edmond’s life achievements are numerous, including a notable cataloguing of the transit of Mercury across the sun.

But for the average Brit he is most associated with Halley’s Comet, which he discovered was the only short period comet that appears visible to the naked eye. It comes into view every 75 years and is next due in 2062. Which means (presuming I’m still alive) I’ll be 84 when it next graces us with its presence.

Adventures in London.

My cloister wanderings concluded with a look through the windows at one of the gardens, with its lone, stone fountain. Centuries ago, this would’ve been packed with ponds, beehives, an orchard and several allotments for growing vegetables and herbs. Those monks had it alright.

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My legs were at this point crying out for some rest. What’s more, the smell of coffee was gently drifting through the cloisters from Westminster Abbey’s onsite cafe and restaurant, Cellarium.

So I followed the smell down a staircase into a chic, atmospheric cellar packed with dense wooden tables and sweeping ceiling arches. Ten out of ten for the environment, no doubt. But honestly I felt disappointed by my average coffee and the dry, expensive slab of lemon drizzle cake. Really, heads would have rolled in Henry the VIII’s day.

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Westminster Abbey is a must see for anyone visiting London. I can’t stress enough the advantages of booking ahead to avoid potential queues. And to be sure that the old joint isn’t operating under a partial closure, which happens from time to time. For opening times and ticket prices, take a look at their excellent website.

For more on my home city, why not delve through my many travel reports from across London.

Or maybe search further afield with my articles from all around England.

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