Photo: Craig CrossEveryone who comes to London should visit Westminster Abbey… simple as that. It’s the British equivalent of the Valley of the Kings. It’s also the second best building in the capital after Parliament, and contains the single greatest room in the Henry VII chapel.
It’s unlike any church that I’ve ever been to with memorials and statues piled up so tight on top of each other that you walk past ten tombs every two paces. You definitely need to listen to the audio-guide or you’ll miss out a lot of interesting material, and I also recommend getting hold of a map because the audio-guide inexplicably misses out a lot of good ones. When you walk in the front door you’ll pass people like Darwin and Elgar, for example, but neither warrants a mention on the tape. And how can you forget someone like Darwin? (Maybe the church still hasn’t forgiven him. They sure do hold their grudges a long time!)
Before you reach the kings and queens you have to stroll through a few corridors of 20th-century politicians like Lloyd George, Attlee, Baldwin, MacDonald and Wilson. Churchill gets a plum spot by the door, but you can definitely see who had the biggest egos: Charles Fox and Henry Campbell-Bannerman – their tombs are bigger than all the other ones put together.
Altar and the Cosmati pavement
The statues round the side are all good enough for an exhibition in the National Gallery. Some of them span two floors in height and stand ten-feet tall – and these are for people that nobody knows! But it’s when you reach the middle that you’ll start to see how great this place is. It might not have the golden mosaics of St. Paul’s Cathedral but when you pass under the central screen you’ll see one of the most impressive sights in the whole of London – the dark chestnut-coloured stalls of the quire, ancient Cosmati pavement and golden altar where William and Kate got wed.
Just have a look up at that ceiling – it’s almost as tall as most buildings are long! You’ll get your first good look at a stained glass window here as well as the light floods down to a crowd enveloped in the smoggy smell of incense. I could have done with a bit more Handel on the headphones at this point because when it thunders up into Zadok the Priest I actually got a bit choked up (I’m getting very patriotic in my old age).
Burial tombs of kings and queens
After that you pass round the side of the altar where you can see all the beautiful little chapels and statues, and then you’ll head past the tombs of some our most famous kings and queens – people like Edward III, Henry III, Henry V (Battle of Agincourt) and Richard II (Peasant’s Revolt). And right in the centre is Edward the Confessor. Unfortunately the tomb itself is too precious to risk letting the tourist hordes near it because it’s nearly a thousand years old, so you can only view it from afar. (The audio-guide provides a little video of what it’s like inside.)
Henry VII and Elizabeth I in the Lady Chapel
At the very end of the Abbey is the single greatest room in the whole of London. No other one even comes close – not even the State Apartments at Buckingham Palace. It’s called the Henry VII Chapel and contains the graves of Henry VII (the first Tudor), Elizabeth I (Spanish Armada), Mary I (Bloody Mary) and James I (Gunpowder Plot). Round the side you’ll find Mary Queen of Scots and the ultimate mother-in-law from hell: Margaret Beaufort.
Remember to have a look inside the RAF Chapel as well because there’s a flagstone on the floor that marks the original burial site of Oliver Cromwell, before Charles II dug up his bones and hanged them at Tyburn.
Poets’ Corner and Coronation Chair
After that you’ll come to Poets’ Corner which is always busy with camera-clickers snapping at the statue of Shakespeare (he’s only there in spirit, because his body is buried at Stratford-upon-Avon). There are more than forty burials and sixty memorials here to the likes of Chaucer, Keats, Kipling, Dickens, Tennyson, Shelley, Eliot and Byron… the only big name that I would have liked to have seen there was Tolkien. I noticed that CS Lewis is there, so why not his buddy Tolkien?
After that you can have a wander round the gardens and enjoy some peace and quiet in the cloisters. When you get halfway round you’ll find the tiny Abbey Museum which has some wax effigies of the kings and queens. And then the route will take you back round for a final look at the Coronation Chair.
If you enjoy this then try Brompton Oratory (take a tube journey from Westminster to South Kensington); St. Paul’s Cathedral (take a tube journey from Westminster to St Pauls) and Westminster Cathedral (walk it in 12 mins or travel from Westminster to Victoria by tube)
The author Craig Cross owns londondrum.com and has spent the last decade reviewing the capital’s landmarks, attractions and hotels. His guidebook London Squire is available from Amazon
Your comments and questions
Dave Hi Craig, great website! Using your itinerary for our upcoming London visit! Thanks! A question: Admission to Westminster Abbey, does this cover Choral Evensong at 5pm on weekday? Many thanks!
Craig Hi Dave. The choral Evensong service is totally free, but you only get to see the area described in my review - londondrum.com/events/?p=22893. It's basically just the altar area and the Quire, plus some statues down the lefthand side. If you want to see the entire Abbey then you have to stump up an admission fee. Bear in mind that even if you pay the admission fee they will still kick you out at closing time. You will then have to wait outside for a while before they let you in for the Evensong.
S&H Hi. We are using your recommendations for our one day in London. How much time do we need for a tour of Westminster Abbey?
Craig Hello. Normally I'd recommend a whole two hours to do it properly, but if you've only got one day then maybe just give it 1-1½ hours.
JohnP Good morning, I am looking to book tickets with a guided tour and I don't see anywhere to book this and the additional cost, would you be able to assist? Thank you and have a pleasant day,
Craig Hi John. If you're referring to the verger tours then you can't book those in advance, you just pay an extra 7 pound on the day. They don't have very big groups either, so the best thing to do is ask about it as soon as you arrive. More information here: westminster-abbey.org/visit-us/guided-tours
JohnP Thanks so much for the quick reply, 43 days and counting! Can't wait for our first pint & pasty!
Gloria As a connoisseur of London's churches, I have to say that this is head and shoulders above the rest. The reason is that Westminster Abbey is not simply a church. It is also London's best museum, containing literally countless statues, memorials tombs and pieces of outstanding art. The roof of Henry VII's chapel is perhaps the finest roof in the country. When you consider that practically every British king and Queen has been crowned her since 1066 - and they still have the same chair which they still use to this day - then that gives you some idea of the vast amount of history contained in this stunning place,
Ron I have been to WA many times and it was always free to enter. Last year I met some friends from the States who told me they were charging £20.00 per person to go in and could scarcely believe it.
Mrs C Hi there, I've just booked my daughter and myself tickets for Westminster Abbey when we visit next month. What else is in the area that you would recommend, please. We have from 10am - 7pm before we head out to our accommodation. Thank you in advance.
Craig Hi Mrs C. The London Eye is a quick 10-minute walk across Westminster Bridge (I don't know how old your daughter is, but the London Aquarium, London Dungeon and Shreks Adventure are right next-door to the London Eye as well). Maybe you could catch a boat from Westminster Pier by Big Ben and ride it up past St Paul's to Tower Bridge? If you just want to walk around and see some famous landmarks then there are loads within easy walking distance of Westminster Abbey - walk straight down Whitehall for Downing Street and Horse Guards until you get to Trafalgar Square (maybe pop into the National Gallery while you're there). Then walk through Leicester Square to Piccadilly Circus, then head down Piccadilly and turn left into Green Park after the Ritz and you'll end up outside Buckingham Palace. Then you can walk across St James's Park back to Westminster Abbey again.
Mrs C Hi, this is great. I'm an 'oldie' at 58 and my daughter is a young 25 so there are many opportunities there for a great day out. One question, how easy/difficult is it to get into the Houses of Parliament? (We will be in London on a Thursday)
Craig It's really easy to get into Parliament if you don't mind just sitting inside the House of Commons or House of Lords and watching a debate. They only run actual tours during midweek in the summer. During the rest of the year it's Saturdays only. It's definitely worth sitting inside the House of Commons though, if only to see inside the building. Check out my review - londondrum.com/events/?p=16946
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