1.2 The history and evolution of the site
1.2.4 The Great Rebuilding: the WHS in the Medieval
1.2.4.1 Henry III began major reconstruction of Westminster Abbey in 1245 (see below). It reflected the adoption and augmentation by Henry of the cult of St Edward the Confessor, and gave a grander expression to his kingship, by laying claim to the spiritual forces that legitimised the king’s authority.
1.2.4.2 In 1241, Henry had commissioned the creation of a new magnificent shrine to the Confessor, to be decorated in gold and jewels and housed in a dedicated chapel. Four years later the demolition of the abbey church began. The new building was to be even grander than the last, with Kentish ragstone, Caen and Reigate freestone, marble from Purbeck and lead from Derbyshire. At high season four hundred
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Mid 16th century. Artist’s impression of the Palace and Abbey from the east in the time of Henry VIII (by H. W. Brewer 1884).
c.1578 Westminster Abbey looking north (after larger map by Ralph Agas c. 1560).
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by French examples, Italian craftsmanship was employed, particularly for the Cosmati pavement before the high altar and the tomb and Chapel of the Confessor. By 1259 the transepts, apse, crossing and Chapter House were complete and in 1269, with the completion of the quire, consecration of the new building and the translation of the Confessor to the new shrine took place. The event was celebrated with a banquet in Westminster Hall.
1.2.4.3 Nearly a century later, work on the Abbey Church resumed and the remodelling, modifications and additions continued until the early 16th century. A ‘Galilee’ porch was added to the north transept in 1362. The remainder of the old nave was pulled down and work on the completion of the new nave began in 1376. The Chapel of St Dunstan was rebuilt in the 15th century and a chapel of St Erasmus was added to the Lady Chapel in the third quarter of the 15th century. By the end of the 15th century, the nave was virtually finished. Henry VII pulled down the chapel of St Erasmus and the Lady Chapel replacing it with the magnificent new Lady Chapel, with its fan vaulting and the figures of one hundred and seven saints lining the walls. It was consecrated in 1509.
1.2.4.4 Many of the monastic buildings, including the Frater, Dorter and Infirmary buildings, were destroyed by fire in 1298. They were gradually rebuilt during the 14th century.
1.2.4.5 The Abbey precinct had probably been enclosed by boundary walls and a ditch by around 1180 AD. The total area covered by the Abbey precinct was approximately fourteen acres and it owned many of the houses close by. The precinct was divided into the southern and northern precincts. The southern precinct included the cloister, dormitory, abbot’s lodgings, the abbey garden and other private areas of the abbey. The northern precinct was the public space.
It included the parish church of St Margaret and the processional routes to the west and north doors of the Abbey Church and was the site of the great October Fair from the 13th century.
Interior of the Chapter House.
riptionoftheworldheritagesite 1.2.4.6 The first St Margaret’s Church survived until the reign of Edward III.
Its nave was then replaced with one in the perpendicular style, the chancel still being in good repair at that time. Towards the end of the 15th century St Margaret’s Church had fallen into such a state of dilapidation that it needed almost total reconstruction.
Robert Stowell began to rebuild the church in 1482. The work continued over many years and the new church was consecrated on 9 April 1523.
1.2.4.7 The institutions of government evolved in the Westminster area. In addition to the King’s Great Council, from the mid-13th century it became increasingly usual to summon knights from the shires and burgesses from the towns. In the 14th century they began to meet together, apart from the Lords, and from this assembly evolved the modern House of Commons. Parliament began to convene on a regular basis at Westminster from the reign of Edward I. The Lords sat in the newly completed Queen’s Chamber but the Commons did not have a permanent home on site and so from 1352 to 1547 they tended to sit in the Chapter House or the refectory of the Abbey.
The future architectural development of the Palace was therefore inextricably bound up with its role as the meeting place for both Houses of Parliament and of the Courts of Law.
1.2.4.8 Henry III also remodelled Westminster Palace in the 13th century, adding new chambers for the Queen and decorating the Painted Chamber. Edward I completed the decoration of the Painted Chamber. He also founded St Stephen’s College and Chapel and began the two storey Chapel in 1292, although it was not completed until the reign of Edward III.
1.2.4.9 By the late 13th century the layout of Westminster Palace resembled many English castles, with its high stone walls and gates. Throughout the 14th century the privy and public parts of the Palace at
Westminster, now called the Great Palace, continued to develop.
Edward lll built a high clock tower in the courtyard to the north of the Great Hall, and the Jewel Tower at the south-west corner of the Palace. By the reign of Edward’s grandson, Richard ll, the Palace, and particularly the Great Hall, had become the heart of English secular and, to an extent, ceremonial life. Richard’s extensive remodelling of
St. Margaret’s Church looking East.
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the Great Hall included the raising of the side walls, the roofing of the whole building in one span, the addition of flying buttresses to support the weight of the roof and the entire rearrangement of the bays and windows. The magnificent roof featured hammer beams, each of which terminated in a carved angel holding a shield with the King’s personal coat of arms impaled with that of the Confessor’s.
The interior was richly and emphatically decorated with Richard’s personal emblems, particularly the White Hart. A series of life-size, colourful statues of kings completed the scheme.
1.2.4.10 The royal residence came to occupy an area of over 131/2 acres, including some land reclaimed from the Thames in the 14th century It consisted of the outer court (or New Palace Yard), the middle court (or the Green Yard) and the inner court (or Old Palace Yard) and St Stephen’s Court.
1.2.4.11 Westminster’s status as the centre of Government and law was increasingly consolidated. By the late 15th century the main Courts of Law, as they were now known, comprising the Kings Bench, the Court of Chancery and the Court of ‘Commons Pleas’, were all housed in the Great Hall, whilst the Exchequer had been relocated to an adjoining building.
1.2.4.12 State trials were also held in Westminster Hall. Some of the most dramatic events in British history were played out here. Edward II and Richard II were deposed and William Wallace, after powerfully challenging Edward l, was tried in Westminster Hall in 1305. In later centuries individuals such as Guy Fawkes and King Charles I were put on trial in the Hall and it was here that Burke spoke in defence of the American colonies and Wilberforce spoke against slavery.
1.2.4.13 By the 15th century the Westminster area had attracted and become congested with business activities. With the crowds came disease and crime. Broad Sanctuary retains the name of the religious sanctuary provided for certain crimes. Residential properties and shops even existed within the precincts of Westminster Abbey.
Interior of Westminster Hall looking south.
riptionoftheworldheritagesite 1.2.4.14 In 1512, the royal residential (or ‘privy’) area of the Palace was gutted
by fire. In 1529, although it remained the seat of government, Henry VIII abandoned Westminster as a residence, in favour of the Palace which came to be known as Whitehall. The ruins of the Privy Palace were demolished, thus ending almost 500 years of royal residence.
Although it retained the status of a Royal Palace, with coronation banquets being held in Westminster Hall until the 19th century, Westminster Palace subsequently became devoted to administration and law.
Norman Undercroft in Westminster Abbey.