The History of Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey, more formally known as the Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster and has been a prestigious building in London since it's founding in 616.

Many important ceremonies have been performed there including coronations and state funerals and many kings and queens have been buried there.

The Abbey was first built by Benedictine Monks in the 730s near the banks of the River Thames. They began a tradition of worshiping daily which continues to the present day. The construction of an abbey made of stone was ordered by Edward the Confessor in 1045 as part of the palace. The building was constructed ten years later, after Edward the Confessor's death. Henry III had the building demolished and rebuilt in the mid 1200s. He selected Westminster Abbey as his burial place, but it wasn't finished until Richard II completed it 260 years later.

Westminster Abbey's towers on the western side were constructed during 1722-1745 by Nicholas Hawksmoor. The towers were constructed in the Gothic Revival style from Portland stone. Purbeck marble was used for the floors and walls of the abbey. Rebuilding and restoration was further performed in the 1800s under Sir George Gilbert Scott.

Westminster Abbey was always protected, even during the turbulence of religions persecution during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but some damage was done to it during the 1600s when Puritan iconoclasts attacked it. It was protected because of Westminster Abbey's royal connections to the state.

The Collegiate Church of St. Peter is a religious building. The latter half of the New Testament was translated on the sacred grounds of Westminster Abbey. The New English Bible was also compiled there. Elizabeth I re-established Westminster Abbey in 1579 as a "Royal Peculiar". A royal peculiar is a church that is responsible to the Sovereign directly instead of being responsible to a Diocesan Bishop.

The funerals at Westminster Abbey are also famous. Almost all of the Kings and Queens are buried there, starting with Edward the Confessor and ending with George II. Henry VIII and Charles I are the exceptions. They are both buried at Windsor. Even Geoffrey Chaucer, author of "Canterbury Tales" was buried in the Abbey. Monks and other people associated with the Abbey have been buried in Westminster Abbey's Cloisters and various other areas, while the chapels were reserved for burying aristocrats.