Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey has crowned every English monarch since 1066 and buried a good share of them, along with the poets, scientists and engineers in its aisles. It is a working church, a coronation stage and a national burial ground at once.

Overview

The building is mostly thirteenth-century Gothic on an older foundation, raised by Henry III in deliberate imitation of the French cathedrals he admired. What makes it unlike them is the density of the dead: Newton and Darwin under the floor of the nave, the Plantagenet and Tudor tombs behind the altar, Poets’ Corner accumulated around Chaucer because he happened to live nearby. The Coronation Chair, plain oak and covered in visitors’ graffiti from the centuries when it was left unguarded, has held every crowning since 1308.

Highlights

Take the audio guide; without it the tombs are anonymous and the point is lost. The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries in the medieval triforium look down the length of the nave and are the best view in the building. It closes to visitors on Sundays for services, which you may attend free.

Overview

Highlights

Location