The Famous Big Ben Tower at Parliment Square
Westminister Abby
This is the site of every coronation of the British Monarchs
since William The Conquerer in 1066. It is the shrine of St Edward the Confessor, the tombs of kings and queens, and countless memorials to the famous and the great.
This started as a Benedictine Monastery.
In the 1040s King Edward (later St Edward the Confessor), last of the Anglo-Saxon kings, established his royal palace by the banks of the river Thames on land known as Thorney Island. Close by was a small Benedictine monastery founded under the patronage of King Edgar and St Dunstan around 960 AD. Edward chose to re-endow and greatly enlarge the monastery, building a large stone church in honour of St Peter the Apostle. This church became known as the west minster to distinguish it from St Paul’s Cathedral, the east minster, in the City of London. Unfortunately, when the new church was consecrated on 28 December 1065 the King was too ill to attend and died a few days later. His mortal remains were entombed in front of the High Altar.
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