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An Apollonaut travel guide
The church behind the crowns.
A Benedictine monastery, a Gothic church and a place of coronations and remembrance offer several ways into the story of Westminster Abbey.
On this page
A monastery at Westminster
Benedictine monks were settled on the site in about 959. Edward the Confessor rebuilt their church, which was consecrated on 28 December 1065.
Henry III began the present Gothic church in 1245, and it was consecrated in 1269. The monks were ejected in 1559, and since 1560 the Abbey has been the Collegiate Church of St Peter, a Royal Peculiar.
Coronations and royal occasions
English and British monarchs have been crowned here since 1066, and at least 16 royal weddings have taken place in the Abbey since 1100.
More than 3,300 people are buried in the Abbey, from monarchs to poets, and the Unknown Warrior of the First World War lies in the nave.
A World Heritage Site
Since 1987 the Abbey has been part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site with the Palace of Westminster and St Margaret’s Church.
This history belongs to the place and the people who shaped it. The History page offers a longer introduction, and the timeline gives a short route through selected milestones.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
