The Haslingden Gazette. — 1913-01-25 (Haslingden, Lancashire, England)

TILE STORY OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY,  MEMORIAL OF GREAT MEN.  SHOULD THERE BE A CLEARANCE OF THE UNIMPORTANT?  On Tuesday evening another of the excellent course of lantern locturue promoted by the Acexingtem and Church Co-operative 'Society's Education Committee was held in the Aaesmbly Room, Oakstreet, Accrington. There was a crowded attendance. The lecturer was the Rev. J. H. Bureett, of Manchester, who spoke on "Westminster Abbey." Although it intg'ha be suppossedi that a lecture on sueh a subject .wruld not prove of general interest, Mr. Burkitt treated it in a. way that watt much appreoiatexl, and his remarks evoked frequent applause. He first of all dealt with the history of the Abbey, pointing out that: it was • built by Edward the Confessor, the last of the Saxon monarohe and that the year following its oolmpletion, And Edward's death, Wilfam the Conqueror came over and instituted the reign of the Norman dynasty. Since that time every king who had come to the throne in this country had been crowned in Westminster Abbey. No similar boast could be made concerning any other church in the world. Since then the building and rebuilding of the Abbey had been going on continuously, and not much of the actual material of the original edifice now remained. He pointed out that in Henry the Third's reign, 200 years after the conquest, so much was being spent by the King on the Abbey that the Howse of Commons first came into existence to exercise :some control over the taXatioi? of the country. Meiling with the symbolism of the architecture of the Abbey, the leeturer pointed out that it was in the shape of a. cross, of which the altar wee the head, the great western nave the foot, and the northern and southern transepts the two arme Thie was symbolio of the crass of Christ, the foundation of the Christian faith. The lady chapel, built. behind the altar and known as; Henry the Seventh's chapel, was symbolic of the Virgin Mary tending Jeans at the Crucifixion. There were also in the architecture features symbolical of the Holy Trinity, the Unity of God, eto. The lecturer spoke ef having been conducted aver the Abbey by Doan Bradley, and having his interest so much aroused by what he was shown, that he had made A constant study of it ever since. He showed pictures of the choir, the transepts: the altar, the nave, the lady chapel, the Coronation chair, and the moeu. merits and tombs of great men placed within the Abbey. 1k also &owed pictures of he Coronation ooreinonies of Queen Victoria, King Edward the Seventh and King George the Fifth. Mr. Burkitt 'dwelt at considerable length on the work of various men whose memory is perpetuated in the Abbey, such as Shakespeare. Chaucer, Wordsworth, Tennyson and others amongst the poets, David Livingstone, the explorer, Dickens the novelist, and Gladstone, Wilberforce., Beaconsfield, Peel, Shaftesbury and other Statesmen. He complained that a great deal of precious space is taken up in the Abbey by memorials of people of no importance, and wished that an Act could be passed authorising the removal of them; so that room could be found for memorials to thOruly great men whose morn ones are not commemorated there. The tombs of Kings within the Abbey were shown on the screen. amid these afforded the lecturer an opportunity (I.f. launching into some interesting historical dissertation, which. 'though instructive, were not alvaye uncontroversial. The tomb of the Princes murdered in the Tower by Richard the Third, was shown, and the lecturer gave an eloquent and touching account of the incidents surrounding the tragedy. Many other important historical events were described, and altogether the lecture was both fascinating and educational