Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
Moments in a longer story.
Selected milestones in the history of Westminster Abbey.
On this page
A monastery, a Gothic church and a Royal Peculiar
These dates describe the place you can learn about here. They are not a company timeline for Apollonaut.
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c. 959
Benedictine monks
Dunstan and King Edgar settle Benedictine monks on the site.
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28 December 1065
Edward the Confessor’s church
The rebuilt abbey church is consecrated, days before Edward’s death.
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1066
The first documented coronation
William the Conqueror is crowned in the Abbey.
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6 July 1245
A Gothic church
Henry III begins rebuilding the church in the Gothic style.
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13 October 1269
Consecration
Henry III’s new church is consecrated.
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c. 1400
Poets’ Corner
Geoffrey Chaucer is buried in the south transept, the beginning of Poets’ Corner.
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1503
The Lady Chapel
Work begins on Henry VII’s Lady Chapel.
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1560
A Royal Peculiar
Elizabeth I re-establishes the Abbey as the Collegiate Church of St Peter.
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1740s
The western towers
The western towers are built to designs by Nicholas Hawksmoor and John James.
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11 November 1920
The Unknown Warrior
An unidentified soldier of the First World War is buried in the nave.
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1953
A coronation
Queen Elizabeth II is crowned on the Cosmati pavement.
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1987
World Heritage
The Abbey becomes part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site with the Palace of Westminster and St Margaret’s Church.
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2018
The galleries
The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries open in the medieval triforium.
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6 May 2023
A coronation
King Charles III is crowned.
Follow the stories behind the dates
A timeline is a beginning. The longer history introduces the people and places; the sources below provide further context.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
