The Savannah morning news., 1902-08-24
HISTORIC WESTMINSTER.
The Abbey in Which King Was
Crowned n Landmark of London.

From an Exchange.
Westminster Abbey is a conventual
church in Westminster, a district in
Guided in the modern town of Lon
don. The monastery and church were
dedicated to st. Peter, but as the SOW
ereigns of England have been crowned
in the abbey church for the last 1000
years, and as it Is the place where
persons of celebrity have been buried
for nearly as long, the church build
ing itself has a special repute, al
though the monastery has disappeared.
Long before any portion of the pres
ent building was in existence there
stood upon the same spot a Saxon
church. That church, built wherein
what was called Thorny Isle, from it's
being covered with brushwood, was
connected long before the Conquest
with a monastic body of the Benedic-
tine order, who named the place of
their abode the Western Monastery, or
Westminster, to distinguish it, some
say, from st. PauPs in London, which
was called East Minister. The first
church here of which, architectural
ly considered, we possess any knowl-
edge, was that built by Edward, the
Confessor, and consecrated Dec. %,
Holy Innocents' Day, 1865.
Norman in Style.
Though built by Saxon king, 1t was
in the Norman style, cruciform in
shape, and exceeding in magnlficence
any sacred building at that time in
England; and there still remains, I'M
der what is called the pyXhouse, a
noble crypt pertaining to the Norman
structure. Henry III rebuilt the great
err part of the abbey church in the
style denominated Early English; and
it is his work that is seen in the
trarsepts and the choir. He had pre-
viously raised a Lady chapel at the
east end; and then, when he erected
the choir and transepts, he transfer
red the high altar to the place 1T now
occupies, and reared beyond between
it and the Lady chapel-a lofty shrine,
to which he removed the body of Ed
ward the Confessor. That shrine,
somewhat mutiated, still remains. The
nave was built under the Edwards, and
the west front and it's grand window,
as well as the completion of the nave,
and aisles, belong to the latter part of
the fifteen century.
Henry VII pulled down the Lady
chapel, and built that which now bears
his name, a charming specimen CT the
ford architecture of the period. e.,
Late OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES richly null
liored windows and roof in fan-vault-
ing. The gates are beautiful specimens
of metal-work. Sir Christopher Wren
was the architect of the upper part of
the western towers, which are by no
means in keeping with the rest of The
church The extreme length of the
whole is 531 feet, and the width across
the transepts 203. The width of the
nave and aises is 70 feet; of the choir,
80; and of Henry Wis chapel, 20. The
hight of the roof is 102 feet, an un-
usual elevation in England. Tile pres
ent cloisters were built in the thir-
teenth and fourteenth centuries. The
chapter house is an architectural gem
of about 1850 restored after lorg ne
glect.
Historic Associations.
The historical associate of the
abbey can best be studied in Dean
Stanleys Memorials. The coronation
stone brought from Scotland by Ed
ward l. may be seen under the coro
nation chair used by Richard H.
which ever since, there is reason to
believe. has been occupied by the Eng
fish sovereigns during the solemnity
of their Inauguration. The funerals
of kings and queens have also taken
place in the minister. The remains of
Oliver Cromwell who never wore the
crown, were for a time in a vault
under Henry Wis chapel. having
Dcen deposited IneTe WITH a pOHp
which royalty could not exceed. In the
chapter house the Commons met when
that body became an assembly dis
tinct from the Lords, and repeated
their sittings there as late as the end
of the reign of Henry VIII
The history of the abbey is interwo-
ven with that OF the English Reforma-
ton. One of the Protestant martyrs,
Thomas Bilney, was arraigned before
I'D In
chapter house The abbey fell at the
time OF the dissolution OF the nonas-
teries, and the abbot was succeeded
by "A dean. In Queen Mary's time II
was restored, but after Eiizabeth's ac-
cesEion the present institution OF dean
and chapter were established. conyO-
cations were Transferred 20 Westmin-
steF IN the time Of Henry VIII.
The conYocafion that acknowledged
the royal supremacy was held here. IN
the time ~ Elizabeth the bishops met
Ia Henry WIS chapel Ia tbs JeFusa-