Westminster Abbey. Britannia.com photo.

Little remains of Edward the Confessor's original edifice. Other than the famous West towers, added by Nicholas Hawksmoor in 1740, the Abbey belongs to the 14th century - the inspired work of mason Henry Yevele. As "Disposer of the King's Works" at Westminster and the Tower of London for both Edward III and his successor Richard II, he was commissioned to complete the rebuilding of the Abbey, commenced over a century earlier. He demolished the original Norman nave in 1375 to give us the lofty nave in Early Perpendicular Gothic style that we know today. He also designed the magnificent tomb chests of both his royal patrons, which can be seen at the side of the chancel near that of the Abbey's founder Edward the Confessor, canonized in 1161. The saint's 13th century altar shrine and his remains uniquely survived the church's sanctimonious grave robbers and the iconoclastic fervour of the 16th century Reformation, sans the original gold feretory covering the coffin, his body jewellery and his burial garments. They had been removed from corpse, cut up and incorporated into latter day Episcopal vestments; in the pious hope of imparting an aura of sanctity to the wearer.

Yevele was also commissioned by King Richard to reconstruct nearby Westminster Hall in the fashionable gothic design and was doubtless paid for his work by poet Geoffrey Chaucer, author of Canterbury Tales, who was appointed King's Clerk of Works in 1389. The Hall's remarkable hammer-beamed roof is one of the few extant architectural wonders of mediaeval London to survive the Great Fire of 1666 and the blitz of 1941, though pierced by a bomb in the raid of 10 May that year when the debating chamber of the House of Commons next door was destroyed.

Centuries of acid smoke played havoc with the external fabric of the Abbey and much needed restoration work was carried out in the 1920s and 1950s, paid for by public subscription.

There is much to see in Westminster Abbey and its immediate environs. The Abbey, which, as a 'Royal Peculiar' is directly controlled by the monarch, is a treasure house of paintings, stained glass, pavements, textiles and other artefacts dating back to the 11th century. It is also the burial place and commemorative venue for some of the most significant people in the nation's cultural and martial history; a repository of tombs and memorials comprising the most outstanding collection of monumental sculpture and brasses in the United Kingdom. Attention should be given to the small historic side chapels containing the decorated tomb chests of England's mediaeval and Tudor Kings and Queens; the Coronation Chair; Edward the Confessor's tomb, (an object of pilgrimage until the reformation of Henry VIII); Hugh Easton's haunting "Battle of Britain" Window, a modern masterpiece of the ancient art of stained glass; Poet's Corner and, enclosing it all in vaulting splendour, Yevele's magnificent gothic nave.

When the Abbey is full, as it frequently becomes, it is the job of the Ushers to marshal the sometimes pushing throng of tourists and chivvy them along through bottlenecks like the side chapels; a possibly disturbing experience in a House of God. It is therefore wise to arrive as early in the day as possible if you wish to study the interior and its small historic side chapels and Poet's Corner in relative peace.

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