On the
morning of March 26, we visited London's Westminster Abbey, a site of both
religious and historical importance. This has been the site
of every monarch's coronation since William the Conqueror with the exceptions
of Edward V and Edward VIII. William the Conqueror, was crowned in
the Norman
Abbey,
which first stood on the site of the present-day Westminster Abbey.
The Norman Abbey survived for only two centuries, as Henry III decide to
tear it down and rebuild in a new architectural design in the middle of
the thirteenth century. Henry III sent his architect, Henry de Reyns,
abroad to study the designs of the great European cathedrals being constructed
during this period, including Chartres, Amiens, and Evreux. Since
the beginning of its construction in the thirteenth century, Westminster
Abbey has seen several additions and it has become a place of great architectural
importance.
Westminster Abbey was designed to be not only a place of worship and of coronation ceremonies, but also a place for the burials of monarchs. During our tour of Westminster Abbey, we saw the tombs of many monarchs, including the tombs of Elizabeth I and Mary I. We also saw the tombs of many intellectual greats, who were laid to rest in "Poets' Corner," including Kipling, Dickens, Tennyson, and Sheridan. We also saw the memorials to other writers, who are buried elsewhere, including Milton, T.S. Eliot, and Jane Austen. The first poet to be buried here was Chaucer because he had been a Clerk of Works to the palace of Westminster. In 1599, Edmund Spenser was buried near Chaucer and it was these two tombs that started the tradition of "Poets' Corner."