Churches of the British Isles

Traditionally, a shrine was first founded on the site in 616. At that time it was an area of dry land known as Thorney Island, which lay in the middle of marshes which were fed by the Thames. The land was said to have been miraculously consecrated after a fisherman on the Thames saw a vision of Saint Peter. The shrine's existence cannot independently be confirmed. There is no documentation which records it and the shrine was swept away for the abbey's construction.

Having been sidelined from political power by Earl Godwine, Edward the Confessor devoted himself to ecclesiastical works. Between 1045-1050 he oversaw the construction of a great abbey on Thorney Island which was consecrated on 28 December 1065. Its building originated in his failure to keep a vow to go on a pilgrimage. Instead the pope suggested that he redeem himself by building an abbey. Edward died just eight days after it was completed.

The original abbey, built in the English Norman (European Romanesque) style, was designed to house Benedictine monks. It was rebuilt in the Gothic style between 1245-1517. The first phase of the rebuilding was organised by Henry III as a shrine to honour Edward the Confessor, who remained the patron saint of England until the fourteenth century. It also served as a suitably regal setting for Henry's own tomb, under the highest Gothic nave in England.

The work was largely finished by the architect Henry Yevele during the reign of Richard II. Henry VII in 1503 added a Perpendicular-style chapel which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary (known as the Henry VII Lady Chapel). The abbey was seized by Henry VIII during the dissolution of the monasteries in 1534, and closed in 1540. It became a cathedral until 1550, but its royal connections saved it from the destruction which was wrought on most other English abbeys.

The abbey was restored to the Benedictines under Queen Mary Tudor, but they were again ejected under Elizabeth I in 1559. She re-established Westminster as a 'royal peculiar' in 1579 - a church which was responsible directly to the sovereign rather than to a bishop - and made it the Collegiate Church of St Peter. It was damaged by Puritan iconoclasts during the turbulent 1640s, but was again protected by its close ties to the state during the Commonwealth.

Oliver Cromwell was given an elaborate funeral here in 1658, only to be disinterred in January 1661 and posthumously hanged from a nearby gibbet. Sir Isaac Newton died at Kensington on 20 March 1727 and was buried in the abbey eight days later. His monument, which was the work of sculptor Michael Rysbrack based on a design by the architect William Kent, stands against the quire screen in the nave (shown here) and was completed in 1731.

The two west towers were built in 1722-1745 by Sir Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor, after finishing rebuilding work on half the City of London's parish churches following the Great Fire of 1666. The towers used Portland stone in an early example of Gothic Revival. Further rebuilding and restoration occurred in the 1800s under Sir George Gilbert Scott. Until then Westminster remained the third seat of learning in England after Oxford and Cambridge.

The abbey's organ was built by Harrison & Harrison in 1937, with four manuals and eighty-four speaking stops. It was first used in the coronation of King George VI. On 15 November 1940 the abbey suffered some minor Blitz damage. Queen Elizabeth II was crowned here on 2 June 1953, the first such occasion to be fully televised live to the nation and the world. The King James Bible Old Testament and the last half of the New Testament were translated here.

Westminster Hall, Palace of Westminster is on the eastern side of St Margaret Street, between the Thames and Westminster Abbey. The hall (on the left and centre of the photo) was built by King William Rufus between 1087-1100 at the northern end of his palace. It was designed originally as a place for feasting, but it also housed the first parliament and attached to it was the later royal Chapel of St Stephen. The hall survived the fire of 1834 and the bombing of 1941.

Nine photos on this page by P L Kessler, and one kindly contributed by Keith Bowden via the 'History Files: Churches of the British Isles' Flickr group.