Step Through the West Door and Into a Thousand Years of Coronations
You arrive at the west front and the traffic of Parliament Square falls away behind you. Ahead is the great Gothic church built between the 13th and 16th centuries, its stone blackened and gilded, the towers framing the door through which you enter. Inside, the floor under your feet is the Cosmati pavement, commissioned by Henry III in front of the High Altar. Look for the full-length portrait of Richard II near the west door — the earliest surviving portrait of an English king. And remember where you're standing: this is the coronation church of Britain, where every English and British monarch since William the Conqueror in 1066 has been crowned, including Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953.
Walk the Aisles of the "House of Kings"
The Abbey is the burial site of more than 3,300 people, and the names accumulate as you walk. Monarchs, prime ministers, poets laureate, actors, musicians, scientists, military leaders — and the Unknown Warrior. Artist William Morris called the Abbey a "National Valhalla," and you'll feel the weight of that as you pass from one memorial to the next. Not everyone commemorated here is buried here; tablets, statues and inscriptions honour many figures whose bodies lie elsewhere. Allow time to read them.
- Make your way to the shrine of Edward the Confessor behind the High Altar. His bones lie here, and many monarchs chose burial close to him. The golden shrine with its jewelled figures no longer exists; only the base remains.
- Find the graves of poets Chaucer, Tennyson and Browning, and of writers Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling.
- Pause at the tomb of the Unknown Warrior.
- Look for the plaque to Thomas Parr, said to have lived 152 years and 9 months through the reigns of ten monarchs, buried in the Abbey by order of King Charles I.
- Note the plaque to Francis Ligonier, who rose from his sick bed to fight at the Battle of Falkirk, survived the battle, and died of his illness shortly after.
Until 1760 the Abbey was the burial place of 17 monarchs, including Elizabeth I and Mary I. At least 16 royal weddings have taken place here since 1100, and the Abbey has hosted royal occasions including the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997.
Stand Beneath the Wonder of the World
Walk to the east end and into the Henry VII Chapel. This is Perpendicular Gothic at its most complete — the antiquarian John Leland called it orbis miraculum, "the wonder of the world." Look up. The church's architecture is chiefly inspired by 13th-century French and English styles, though you'll also find earlier Romanesque sections and later Baroque and modern work as you move through the building.
When you need quiet, step through Liddell's Arch into Little Deans Yard — the square behind the Abbey, by Westminster School — and into the cloisters. These are the spots where the crowds thin and the building settles around you.
Time Your Visit and Plan Your Day Around It
Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster, including the Elizabeth Tower — the clock tower commonly known by the name of its bell, Big Ben — and the Houses of Parliament, form a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed in 1987 alongside St Margaret's Church. The Palace of Westminster is open to the public only for viewing parliamentary debates, though tours of the building are available in July and August when Parliament is away on summer recess. If you want to combine both, plan your trip for those months.
Worship is offered every day of the year, and services have been held on this site for more than a thousand years. The Abbey is a living working church, not a museum — it is independent and receives no funding from the Church, Government, or Crown, relying on visitor and donor support. It also has a restaurant and a café, both serving good food, so you can break your visit without leaving the precinct. A new building, the King Charles III Sacristy, is under construction to improve visitor welcome facilities. The Abbey is accessible by bus and rail, and the nearest Tube station is Westminster.
What You're Really Looking At
The origins of the Abbey are obscure, but a monastery dedicated to Saint Peter stood on this site before the 11th century — an island in the Thames called Thorney Island. A community of Benedictine monks was installed here around 959. Edward the Confessor rebuilt the church between 1042 and 1052, and it was consecrated on 28 December 1065, about a week before his death. His foundations still survive under the present church, and above ground some of the lower parts of the monastic dormitory survive in the undercroft, including a door said to come from the previous Anglo-Saxon abbey. Construction of the present church began in 1245 on the orders of Henry III, who wanted it built as a shrine to venerate Edward. The monastery was dissolved in 1559, and Elizabeth I made the church a royal peculiar — accountable directly to the sovereign.
One legend tells of a young fisherman on the River Thames who had a vision of Saint Peter near this site. The Fishmongers' Company still gives the Abbey a salmon each year in recognition of that story.
Stand on the Cosmati pavement, look up into the roof of the Henry VII Chapel, and read a name you recognise on a stone you didn't expect. Give the Abbey half a day, not an hour — the building rewards the time you give it. Check the Abbey's own site for visiting arrangements and service times before you go, and if you can, come in July or August when the Palace of Westminster opens its doors too. Start with the west door.