Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Christabel, and a WPSU Prisoners' Badge, flank the statue. Round the corner, a replica
of Rodin's famous sculpture, The Burghers of Calais , makes a surprising appearance here,
while at the far end of the gardens stands the Buxton Memorial , a neo-Gothic fountain,
made from a real potpourri of exotic materials, erected in 1865 to commemorate the
1834 abolition of slavery in the British Empire.
1
Westminster Abbey
Parliament Square • Hours can vary: Mon-Fri 9.30am-4.30pm, Wed until 6pm, Sat 9.30am-2.30pm • £18 • T 020 7654 4900,
W westminster-abbey.org • ! Westminster
The Houses of Parliament dwarf their much older neighbour, Westminster Abbey ,
which squats awkwardly on the western edge of Parliament Square. Yet this single
building embodies much of the history of England: it has been the venue for every
coronation since the time of William the Conqueror, and the site of just about every
royal burial for some five hundred years between the reigns of Henry III and George II.
Scores of the nation's most famous citizens are honoured here, too - though many of
the stones commemorate people buried elsewhere - and the interior is cluttered with
literally hundreds of monuments, reliefs and statues.
With over 3300 people buried beneath its flagstones and countless others
commemorated here, the abbey is, in essence, a giant mausoleum. It has long ceased
to be simply a working church, and hefty admission charges are nothing new: Oliver
Goldsmith complained about being charged three pence in 1765. A century or so later,
so few people used the abbey as a church that, according to George Bernard Shaw, one
foreign visitor kneeling in prayer was promptly arrested because the verger thought he
was acting suspiciously. Despite protestations to the contrary, the abbey is now more
mass tourist attraction than House of God.
Main Entrance
WESTMINSTER
ABBEY
0
50
yards
St John
the Baptist
St Paul
Musicians' Aisle
Innocents'
Corner
Tomb of the
Unknown
Soldier
Henry VII's
Chapel
Exit
Nave
RAF
Choir
St
Nicholas
SHRINE OF
EDWARD THE
CONFESSOR
St
Edmund
POETS'
CORNER
OLD
PALACE
YARD
N
Great
Cloisters
CHAPTER
HOUSE
Pyx
Chamber
Cloisters
Entrance
Westminster School
Little
Cloister
St Catherine's
Chapel
Jewel
Tower
DEAN'S
YARD
College
Garden
LITTLE DEAN'S YARD
 
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