Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the top band of the ironwork. Henry VII, the first Tudor king, was the father of Henry VIII
and the grandfather of Elizabeth I. This exuberant chapel heralds a new optimistic, post-
war era as England prepares to step onto the world stage.
• Go to the far end of the chapel and stand at the banister in front of the modern set of
stained-glass windows.
Royal Air Force Chapel
Saints in robes and halos mingle with pilots in parachutes and bomber jackets. This tribute
to WWII flyers is for those who earned their angel wings in the Battle of Britain (July-Oct
1940). Hitler's air force ruled the skies in the early days of the war, bombing at will, and
threatening to snuff Britain out without a fight. But while determined Londoners hunkered
down underground, British pilots in their Spitfires and Hurricanes took advantage of newly
invented radar to get the jump on the more powerful Luftwaffe. These were the fighters
about whom Churchill said, “Never...was so much owed by so many to so few.”
The Abbey survived the Battle and the Blitz, but this window did not. As a memorial,
a bit of bomb damage has been preserved—the little glassed-over hole in the wall below
the windows in the lower left-hand corner. The topic of remembrances lists each of the
1,497 airmen (including one American) who died in the Battle of Britain.
You're standing on the grave of Oliver Cromwell, leader of the rebel forces in Eng-
land's Civil War. Or, rather, what had been his grave, when Cromwell was buried here
from 1658 to 1661. Then his corpse was exhumed, hanged, drawn, quartered, and decap-
itated, and the head displayed on a stake as a warning to anarchists.
• Exit the Chapel of Henry VII. Turn left into a side chapel with the tomb (the central one
of three in the chapel).
Tomb of Mary, Queen of Scots
Historians get dewy-eyed over the fate of Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587). The beauti-
ful, French-educated queen was held under house arrest for 19 years by Queen Elizabeth
I, who considered her a threat to her sovereignty. Elizabeth got wind of an assassination
plot, suspected Mary was behind it, and had her first cousin (once removed) beheaded.
When Elizabeth—who was called the “Virgin Queen”—died heirless, Mary's son, James
VI, King of Scots, also became King James I of England and Ireland. James buried his
mum here (with her head sewn back on) in the Abbey's most sumptuous tomb.
• Exit Mary's chapel. Ahead of you, again, is the tomb of the church's founder, Edward
the Confessor. Continue on, until you emerge in the south transept. You're in...
