I've shown you pix of Westminster Abbey before, but I hadn't ever taken a tour of it, and since you can't take photos inside...umm...here you go:
According to tradition the abbey was first founded in 616 on the present site, then known as Thorn Ey (Thorn Island); based on a late 'tradition' that a fisherman called ' Aldrich ' on the River Thames saw a vision of Saint Peter near the site. This seems to be quoted to justify the presents of salmon from the Thames fishermen that the Abbey received in later years. The proven origins are that in the 960s or early 970s, Saint Dunstan, assisted by King Edgar, planted a community of Benedictine monks here. A stone Abbey was built around 1045–1050 by King Edward the Confessor as part of his palace there: it was consecrated on December 28, 1065,[1] only a week before the Confessor's death and subsequent funeral and burial. It was the site of the last coronation prior to the Norman Invasion, that of his successor King Harold. It was later rebuilt by Henry III from 1245, who had selected the site for his burial."
And many a person is buried here! 'Bloody' Mary; Elizabeth I; Mary Queen of Scots; Laurence Olivier; Charles Dickens; Issac Newton; Chaucer; etc.!
King Edward's Chair
Since the coronations in 1066 of both King Harold and William the Conqueror, all English and British monarchs (except Edward V and Edward VIII, who did not have coronations) have been crowned in the Abbey.[1] Henry III was unable to be crowned in London when he first came to the throne because Prince Louis of France had taken control of the city, and so was crowned in Gloucester Cathedral, but this coronation was deemed by the Pope to be improper, and a further coronation was held in the Abbey on 17 May 1220.[5] Lady Jane Grey, whose reign lasted just nine days, and was of doubtful legality was also never crowned. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the traditional cleric in the coronation ceremony. King Edward's Chair (or St Edward's Chair), the throne on which British sovereigns are seated at the moment of coronation, is housed within the Abbey and has been used at every coronation since 1308; from 1301 to 1996 the chair also housed the Stone of Scone upon which the kings of Scotland are crowned, but pending another coronation the Stone is now kept in Scotland.
Some views of the 'cloisters' outside...
The cloisters 'house' a lot of memorial plaques, I thought this was interesting...
This was the 'Collegiate Garden', I think...there's Parliament in the background...
These are administrative buildings of Westminster Abbey. I thought it was interesting how this guy is trying to 'get out'...
