I had some old pound notes that needed to be exchanged for the new, plastic notes. So I went to the nearest Nat West Bank. I found that I needed to have an account there in order to exchange the notes. The woman I spoke to led me outside and pointed out the nearest Post Office, which was where I would be able to make the exchange. There was a long line, but it moved quickly. Afterwards, I headed to Westminster Abbey.
I had booked a general admission for 10:30am along with admission to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries. They have handheld audio guides that can be used to tour the building at your own pace. The audio guide leads you around, explaining the history and significance of wherever you are. I really like not having to cluster around to try to hear commentary in a large group, especially since I always had difficulty seeing what they were talking about due to my short stature.
On this visit, after many decades of not being allowed to take photos inside of Westminster Abbey, I discovered that photography was now allowed other than up in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries. I had left my camera back at the hotel, but had my phone. I took it out and began clicking up a storm.
I started in the Nave and headed for the Quire. The stalls are where the Abbey’s choir sings during daily services. The next area was the High Altar. In front of the altar is the Cosmati Pavement. This is a marble pavement dating from 1268. Henry III was rebuilding the Abbey at the time and had the remarkable pavement installed. Back in the 1980s, which was when I first visited the Abbey, this area was covered by thick carpets to try to protect the decoration there. Now it is left uncovered, but roped off from the public. We can look at it, but not walk on it. That is totally fine with me. I prefer being able to see it.
Next to the pavement, on the right when facing the altar, is the low, marble tomb of Anne of Cleves. She was Henry VIII’s fourth wife. She managed to survive being married to him by agreeing to a divorce and lived out the rest of her long life in some very nice properties and with a very nice allowance. Smart lady.
In front of the High Altar is where the coronation ceremony takes place. The Coronation Chair faces the altar while the incoming monarch is anointed and crowned. The royal weddings also take place in this space.
The only way to get into the Shrine of Edward the Confessor is with a Verger Tour. I have done this a couple times in the past and will likely do it again the next time I am in London. But it was too much to try to pack in along with the other tours in this visit. So I skirted around the outside.
Edward the Confessor’s tomb was in the center of the shrine area. On a previous Verger Tour I had been invited to kneel in one of the niches of that shrine to pray. When I did the Medieval Monasteries Tour later on his visit, I found that kneeling in the niches was no longer allowed as apparently it was too much wear and tear for such an old shrine. Although he had died in 1066 and was buried in the Abbey at that time, the current shrine wasn’t built until 1163 at which time Edward’s body was moved into that more elaborate shrine.
Buried in tombs around Edward the Confessor are several people. The royal tombs are Edward I (whose tomb was plain as he planned to be moved to Scotland once it was conquered), Henry III, Edward I’s queen Eleanor of Castile, Henry V, Edward III’s queen Philippa of Hainault, Edward III, and Richard II (with his first wife, Anne of Bohemia). Edward the Confessor’s queen, Edith of Wessex, is buried somewhere to the right of her husband in an unmarked location in the shrine. Since I knelt in a niche on the right side of the shrine, I could have easily stepped over where she is buried.
I next entered the area of Henry VII’s Chapel (the Lady Chapel) and slipped into the area to the left of that gloriously fan vaulted late medieval chapel. There was located the tomb of Elizabeth I and her sister, Mary I. There is also a sarcophagus containing the bones said to have been of the two princes in the tower – Edward V and Richard Duke of York. Near there was also a small tomb for a young daughter, Mary, of James I.
The Lady Chapel itself was built by Henry VII from 1503 to 1516. Just in front of the altar is a tile indicating the approximate location of Edward VI. He was Henry VIII’s son. At the age of nine, he became king upon his father’s death, but only lived to age fifteen. When he died, his sister, Mary I, became queen with his other sister, Elizabeth I, following her.
Behind this altar is the tomb of Henry VII and his wife, Elizabeth of York. They lie just below their monument, along with James I. Various other people are buried around this chapel, including George II and his wife, Caroline (plus several members of their family). George Villiers (1st Duke of Buckingham), and Anne of Denmark (wife of James I) were buried in alcoves near James I. Oliver Cromwell was also originally buried in this chapel, but was disinterred in 1661 after Charles II was invited back to the throne.
Around the chapel are banners of living members of the Order of the Bath. Stalls with coats of arms and brass plates of former knights also line the chapel on both sides.
On the other side of this main part of the chapel is where many of the Stuarts are buried. The first vault encountered is the one for Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, and her son Charles, Earl of Lennox. Margaret was the daughter of Margaret Tudor and granddaughter of Henry VII. She was the grandmother of James I.
Next comes Mary, Queen of Scots, James I’s mother. There are a few other Stuarts in her vault with her, including Lady Arabella Stuart. Arabella was the daughter of Margaret Douglas’ son, Charles, and was considered to be a contender as a successor to the childless Elizabeth I. She died in the Tower of London in 1615.
Margaret of Beaufort, Henry VII’s mother, has a memorial and vault all to herself. Then there are names of the following at the far end of this space: Queen Anne (James II’s younger daughter), Prince William (Anne’s only child to survive infancy and died at age eleven), William III & his wife Mary II (joint monarchs as Mary was James II’s eldest daughter), and Charles II. All of these former kings and queens are in a vault below that area, but don’t have effigies or fancy tombs over their graves.
On my way to Poet’s Corner, I took several photos of the tombs and effigies I could see within Edward the Confessor’s Shrine from the south ambulatory.
It is said that there are more than 100 writers and poets who are either buried in Poet’s Corner or have memorials there. The first to be buried there was Geoffrey Chaucer in 1400. Although he was a poet, his burial in the Abbey was because of his position as Clerk of the King’s Works. Roughly 200 years later, poet Edmund Spenser asked to be buried near Chaucer. That was the start of having literary people plus sometimes clergymen, actors and musicians buried in that same area.
Near Poet’s Corner is the entrance to reach the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries. This involves a new tower, opened in 2018, which includes a staircase and a lift to the Galleries. An additional ticket is needed for the Galleries. Mine was only £5 extra. I felt it was well worth it and would be happy to visit the Galleries again on my next visit to the Abbey.
The Galleries are housed in a 13th century triforium high above the Abbey floor. The views are spectacular from there of the Abbey below. Unfortunately no photography was allowed, not even of the Abbey itself as seen from above.
There were several items that I remembered from my earliest visits to the Abbey in the 1980s and 90s. These have to do with the history of the Abbey and of the Monarchy, including twenty effigies which were displayed at the funeral of the person depicted.
The earliest effigies were wooden, while later models were of wax. These include:
- Edward III – the earliest effigy now in existence. The face is a death mask and dates from 1377.
- Anne of Bohemia – a death mask of Richard II’s queen.
- Catherine de Valois- a full length wooden effigy of Henry V’s queen. She is depicted wearing a red dress. One of her arms and both hands are missing.
- Elizabeth of York – only the wooden head and arm of Henry VII’s queen survives.
- Henry VII – this is a plaster death mask and is quite lifelike.
- Mary I – her wooden head and body had been separated, but were reunited for this new display. It is said that her face is not a good likeness.
- Elizabeth I – this is a wax full body effigy which was remade in 1760. The original corset and drawers from 1603 were found in 1995 and are displayed next to the effigy. She looks pretty darned formidable.
- James I and his son Henry Prince of Wales – their effigies have been headless for several centuries.
- Anne of Denmark – this effigy of James I’s queen was taken from a death mask.
- Charles II – by the time of his death, effigies were no longer carried as part of a royal funeral. But a wax effigy was made to stand by his grave since there was no monument. The effigy is really cool and even has silk underwear. I almost expected him to look at me and say something.
- Queen Anne – the only seated effigy.
- Frances, Duchess of Richmond – she died in 1702 and was buried in the Richmond vault in the Henry VII Chapel. She was born in 1647 and considered to be a great beauty. But she was disfigured by smallpox in 1668. Her effigy is dressed in her coronation clothes from Queen Anne’s coronation.
- Catherine, Duchess of Buckingham and her sons – she was the illegitimate daughter of James II, which made her a half sister to both Queen Mary II (of William & Mary) and Queen Anne. Her son, Robert Sheffield, Marquess of Normanby, died at the age of three and is the only effigy of a child in the collection. Her other son, Edmund, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, is the only recumbent effigy and is still in its original case.
- William III – William was the Prince of Orange and married to Mary, James II’s eldest legitimate daughter. They were invited to become joint King and Queen of Britain when James II fled to France instead of waiting around to be deposed. James was catholic, but his daughters were not.
- Mary II – she and her husband William III were actually cousins (his mother was Charles I’s daughter). The coronation chair used for their joint coronation is also on display in the Galleries. She died before her husband and he ruled on his own until his death.
- William Pitt, Earl of Chatham – this was William Pitt the Elder and was Prime Minister twice. His effigy is quite lifelike and is clothed in Parliamentary robes and a wig. He looks like he is about to give a speech.
- Horatio, Viscount Nelson – although he was buried in St Paul’s Cathedral instead of the Abbey, his effigy was purchased by the Abbey to be shown there as a counter attraction to his tomb in St Paul’s. The effigy shows the wrong eye as blind, but was otherwise thought to be a good likeness according to his mistress Lady Hamilton. The effigy was dressed in clothes that had belonged to Lord Nelson.
After I left the galleries, I had about a half hour before my Medieval Monastery tour, so I visited the WC and then took a seat in the area where I was supposed to meet up with the rest of the group and our guide to relax a bit before the 90-minute special tour began.
Next time – A full day at Westminster Abbey – Part 2 (a small group tour focusing on when the Abbey was a Medieval Monastery)
