Westminster Abbey

Parliament Square, London, SW1P 3PA Full details & map
© Andrew Brackenbury

Westminster Abbey review

The cultural significance of Westminster Abbey is hard to overstate, but also hard to remember as you're shepherded around, forced to elbow fellow tourists out of the way to read a plaque or see a tomb. Edward the Confessor commissioned it as a church to St Peter on the site of a 7th-century version, but it was only consecrated on 28 December 1065. William the Conqueror had himself cronwed here on Christmas Day, 1066. With just two exceptions, every since has taken place in Westminster Abbey, and many royal, military and cultural notables are interred here, including Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. Poets' Corner is the final resting place of Geoffrey Chaucer, as are John Dryden, Samuel Johnson and Robert Browning. Henry James, DH Lawrence, TS Eliot and Dylan Thomas have dedications. The Abbey Museum celebrated its centenary in 2008.


Events at Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

Until Aug 31 2010 Museums & Attractions

Housed in the vaulted undercroft beneath the former monks' dormitory in the East Cloister, the Westminster Abbey...

Westminster Abbey details

Address
Parliament Square, London, SW1P 3PA

Transport Westminster 

Telephone

020 7222 5152

Westminster Abbey website

Times Royal Chapels: 9.30am-4.30pm Mon-Sat (last adm 3.30pm; closed Sun and sometimes at short notice); Pyx Chamber, Chapter House and Museum: 10.30am-4pm Mon-Sat

Prices £12, £9 seniors, students & under-16s, under-11s free (except as group bookings), £28 family (adm to the museum, Pyx Chamber and the Chapter House is included)

Westminster Abbey map

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