Visit | Westminster Abbey
We’re open to visitors most days, but as Westminster Abbey is a living working church, we may need to close some areas off to the public at times and offer reduced opening hours. General opening times. Monday - Friday: 9.30am - 3.30pm (last entry) Saturday: 9.00am - 3.00pm (last entry) Sunday: Open for services.
About - Westminster Abbey
The Abbey has been the coronation church since 1066, and is the final resting place of 17 monarchs. The church we see today was begun by Henry III in 1245. It’s one of the most important Gothic buildings in the country, and has the medieval shrine of an Anglo-Saxon saint at its heart. Explore the Abbey's history.
A royal church | Westminster Abbey
Oct 3, 2024 · An architectural masterpiece of the 13th to 16th centuries, Westminster Abbey has become a treasure house of artefacts. This is also the coronation church where some of the most significant people in Britain's history are buried or commemorated. Discover our history.
History - Westminster Abbey
The Coronation church since 1066. Forty monarchs have been crowned in the Abbey since 1066. Find out more about the history of coronations, the objects and spaces used during the ceremony, and the kings and queens involved.
Plan your visit - Westminster Abbey
Shop. We sell a range of merchandise inspired by the life, history, architecture of Westminster Abbey and its location in the heart of London. You can shop online and have your order shipped worldwide. Visit our shop.
Architecture - Westminster Abbey
Corbel in the triforium known as "the crusty craftsman" The lantern and south transept. A spacious area between the high altar and the beginning of the quire was necessary to provide a 'theatre' where coronations could take place. The stonework (which came from Caen in France and Reigate in Surrey), the sculptured roof bosses and the other carvings would have been brightly coloured and the ...
The Coronation Chair - Westminster Abbey
The Coronation Chair was made by order of Edward I to enclose the famous Stone of Scone, which he brought from Scotland to the Abbey in 1296, where he placed it in the care of the Abbot of Westminster. The King had a magnificent oaken chair made to contain the Stone in 1300-1301, painted by Master Walter and decorated with patterns of birds ...
Elizabeth I - Westminster Abbey
Elizabeth I. Queen Elizabeth I was the daughter of King Henry VIII by Anne Boleyn and was born at Greenwich on 7th September 1533. She succeeded her half-sister Mary I in 1558. Queen Elizabeth was the foundress of the present Collegiate Church of St Peter (the formal title for the Abbey) in 1560 (by charter of 21 May) and her long reign was one ...
Unknown Warrior - Westminster Abbey
Unknown Warrior. At the west end of the Nave of Westminster Abbey is the grave of the Unknown Warrior, whose body was brought from France to be buried here on 11th November 1920. The grave, which contains soil from France, is covered by a slab of black Belgian marble from a quarry near Namur. On it is the following inscription, composed by ...
Sir Isaac Newton - Westminster Abbey
Dec 25, 2012 · Newton died unmarried at Kensington on 20th March 1727 and was buried in Westminster Abbey on 28th March. Before the funeral his body lay in state in the Jerusalem Chamber (a room in the Deanery) and his coffin was followed to its grave by most of the Fellows of the Royal Society. The Lord Chancellor, the Dukes of Montrose and Roxburgh and the ...