Henry VII Chapel

The Imperial Monumental Halls and Tower was a proposed Gothic complex designed for a site in London adjacent to Westminster Abbey. The plans, exhibited at the Royal Academy in March 1904, included a 167-metre-high (548 ft) tower that would have dominated the Clock Tower and Victoria Tower of the nearby Houses of Parliament. It was never built. The design by John Pollard Seddon – then diocesan architect for London – and Edward Beckitt Lamb (son of Edward Buckton Lamb) was based on earlier schemes that each had proposed separately, and was one of many extensions proposed for Westminster Abbey in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by architects such as George Gilbert Scott, George John Shaw Lefevre, James Fergusson, and Henry Travis. In particular, the clergy at the abbey were concerned that it was becoming crowded with monuments, and more space was needed. Some of the proposed designs were considered by a Royal Commission in 1891. The issue was given added impetus after the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in August 1902, by a desire for Westminster Abbey to become a fitting Imperial monument, to compete with the baroque St Paul's Cathedral where Queen Victoria had commemorated her Diamond Jubilee in 1897. The architects aspired to create a grand and expensive monument to "form a worthy centre to the metropolis of the Empire 'upon which the sun never sets'". The complex was planned to be joined to the Great Cloister of Westminster Abbey, leading to a 65-foot-wide (20 m) reception hall beneath the tower, with the main body of the building – the Great Monumental Hall – stretching 192 feet (59 m) along Great College Street and incorporating smaller side halls. The halls would have ended with a double transept at the south end, 157 feet (48 m) wide and 47 feet (14 m) deep. The soaring Memorial Tower included a high-level open ambulatory, surmounted by a corona topped by a lantern with bells. It was intended to hold monuments and imperial trophies in galleries on the lower floors, with archives on the upper floors. It would have been the tallest building in the United Kingdom, significantly higher than the 111 metres (364 ft) dome of St Paul's Cathedral. The complex would have had a similar floor area to Westminster Abbey, and would have overshadowed the Houses of Parliament close by. The scheme of work would have included the completion of the tower over the crossing at Westminster Abbey. The Builder magazine criticised the scheme as exhibiting a degree of megalomania.

The statue of George V in Old Palace Yard, Westminster, London, is a sculpture of George V, King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India. The statue was sculpted prior to the Second World War and was hidden in a quarry during the war years. Other locations were suggested for the statue, including Parliament Square, but it was unveiled opposite the House of Lords in 1947.

Poets' Corner is the name traditionally given to a section of the South Transept of Westminster Abbey in the City of Westminster, London because of the high number of poets, playwrights, and writers buried and commemorated there. The first poet interred in Poets' Corner was Geoffrey Chaucer in 1400. Over a century after his death, William Shakespeare was commemorated with a monument in 1740. Over the centuries, a tradition has grown up of interring or memorialising people there in recognition of their contribution to British culture. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the honour is awarded to writers. In 2009, the founders of the Royal Ballet were commemorated in a memorial floor stone and on 25 September 2010, the writer Elizabeth Gaskell was celebrated with the dedication of a panel in the memorial window. On 6 December 2011, former Poet Laureate Ted Hughes was commemorated with a floor stone. On 22 November 2013, the fiftieth anniversary of his death, writer C. S. Lewis was commemorated with a memorial floor stone. The poet Philip Larkin was commemorated with a floor stone dedicated on 2 December 2016.

The Church of St Margaret, Westminster, is in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, London, England. It is dedicated to Margaret of Antioch, and forms part of a single World Heritage Site with the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey.

The Jewel Tower is a 14th-century surviving element of the Palace of Westminster, in London, England. It was built between 1365 and 1366, under the direction of William of Sleaford and Henry de Yevele, to house the personal treasure of King Edward III. The original tower was a three-storey, crenellated stone building which occupied a secluded part of the palace and was protected by a moat linked to the River Thames. The ground floor featured elaborate sculpted vaulting, described by historian Jeremy Ashbee as "an architectural masterpiece". The tower continued to be used for storing the monarch's treasure and personal possessions until 1512, when a fire in the palace caused King Henry VIII to relocate his court to the nearby Palace of Whitehall. At the end of the 16th century the House of Lords began to use the tower to store its parliamentary records, building a house alongside it for the use of the parliamentary clerk, and extensive improvements followed in 1621. The tower continued as the Lords' records office through the 18th century and several renovations were carried out to improve its fire-proofing and comfort, creating the present appearance of the tower. It was one of only four buildings to survive the burning of Parliament in 1834, after which the records were moved to the Victoria Tower, built for the purpose of storing archives, and part of the new neo-Gothic Palace of Westminster. In 1869 the Jewel Tower was taken over by the newly formed Standard Weights and Measures Department, which used it for storing and testing official weights and measures. The rising level of passing vehicular traffic made the tower increasingly unsuitable for this work, and by 1938 the department had abandoned it in favour of other facilities. In 1948 the building was placed into the care of the Ministry of Works, which repaired the damage inflicted to the tower during the Second World War and restored the building extensively, clearing the surrounding area and opening the tower to tourists. Today the Jewel Tower is managed by English Heritage and receives about 30,000 visitors annually.

A statue of Oliver Cromwell stands outside the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in Westminster, London. Oliver Cromwell was Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland between 1653 and 1658. Directly opposite the statue, in the wall of St Margaret's Church, on the other side of the road, is a bust of Charles I, which is often unnoticed. The statue was designed by Hamo Thornycroft and erected in 1899. It has divided opinion, both before its erection and since, due to Cromwell's opposition to the monarchy and his role in the conquest of Ireland. The statue is one of five public statues of Cromwell in the United Kingdom and is Grade II listed for its architectural merit.

Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is a large, mainly Gothic abbey church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United Kingdom's most notable religious buildings and the traditional place of coronation and a burial site for English and, later, British monarchs. Since the coronation of William the Conqueror in 1066, all coronations of English and British monarchs have occurred in Westminster Abbey. Sixteen royal weddings have occurred at the Abbey since 1100.The building itself was originally a Catholic Benedictine monastic church until the monastery was dissolved in 1539. Between 1540 and 1556, the abbey had the status of a cathedral and seat of the Catholic bishop. After 1560 the building was no longer an abbey or a cathedral, after the Catholics had been driven out by King Henry VIII, having instead been granted the status of a Church of England "Royal Peculiar"—a church responsible directly to the sovereign—by Queen Elizabeth I. According to a tradition first reported by Sulcard in about 1080, a church was founded at the site (then known as Thorn Ey (Thorn Island)) in the seventh century at the time of Mellitus, a Bishop of London. Construction of the present church began in 1245 on the orders of King Henry III.The Abbey is the burial site of more than 3,300 people, usually of prominence in British history: at least 16 monarchs, eight prime ministers, poets laureate, actors, scientists, military leaders, and the Unknown Warrior—the first person interred in the Abbey's Poets' Corner was Geoffrey Chaucer in 1400. As such, Westminster Abbey is sometimes described as "Britain's Valhalla", after the iconic hall of the chosen heroes in Norse mythology.

Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle (14 August 1653 – 6 October 1688) was an English soldier and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1667 to 1670 when he inherited the Dukedom and sat in the House of Lords.

The funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales started on Saturday 6 September 1997 at 9:08 am in London, when the tenor bell of Westminster Abbey started tolling to signal the departure of the cortège from Kensington Palace. The coffin was carried from the palace on a gun carriage by riders of the King's Troop and escorted by mounted police, along Hyde Park to St James's Palace, where Diana's body had remained for five days before being taken to Kensington Palace. The Union Flag on top of the palace was lowered to half mast. The official ceremony was held at Westminster Abbey in London and finished at the resting place in Althorp.Two thousand people attended the ceremony in Westminster Abbey while the British television audience peaked at 32.10 million, one of the United Kingdom's highest viewing figures ever. An estimated 2 to 2.5 billion people watched the event worldwide, making it one of the biggest televised events in history.

The British grave of the Unknown Warrior (often known as 'The Tomb of The Unknown Warrior') holds an unidentified member of the British armed forces killed on a European battlefield during the First World War. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, London on 11 November 1920, simultaneously with a similar interment of a French unknown soldier at the Arc de Triomphe in France, making both graves the first to honour the unknown dead of the First World War. It is the first example of a tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The Westminster Abbey Muniments is a collection of muniments and manuscripts comprising archives of Westminster Abbey from the tenth century to the present day. The core of the collection contains accounts, manuscripts, and court records of the large estate. Before they were put together in the archives, they were scattered across southern and mid-England.

Richard Coeur de Lion is a Grade II listed equestrian statue of the 12th-century English monarch Richard I, also known as Richard the Lionheart, who reigned from 1189 to 1199. It stands on a granite pedestal in Old Palace Yard outside the Palace of Westminster in London, facing south towards the entrance to the House of Lords. It was created by Baron Carlo Marochetti, an Italian sculptor whose works were popular with European royalty and the nobility, though often less well regarded by critics and the artistic establishment. The statue was first produced in clay and displayed at The Great Exhibition in 1851, where it was located outside the west entrance to the Crystal Palace. It was well received at the time and two years later Queen Victoria and Prince Albert headed a list of illustrious subscribers to a fund that aimed to raise money for the casting of the statue in bronze. Although the money was duly raised and the bronze cast of the statue was finally completed in 1856, a lengthy dispute delayed its installation for several years. The original idea had been to erect the statue as a memorial to the Great Exhibition. This prompted opposition, as did proposals to place it outside Charles Barry's newly completed Palace of Westminster. Various other locations to display the statue were initially considered before agreement was reached that it would be placed in Old Palace Yard, Marochetti's preferred location. It was installed in October 1860, though it was not until March 1867 that it was finally completed with the addition of bronze bas-reliefs on either side of the pedestal. The quality of the statue's workmanship caused problems during its first half-century; the horse's tail fell off the day after it was installed at the Great Exhibition, and forty years after its installation it was discovered to be riddled with holes and to have never been properly attached to its pedestal. It narrowly escaped destruction during the Second World War when a German bomb dropped during the Blitz landed a few metres away and peppered it with shrapnel. The pedestal and the horse's tail were damaged and Richard's sword was bent by the blast. In 2009, the Parliamentary authorities undertook a project to conserve and restore the statue.