Westminster Abbey

Cathedral in/near Westminster, existing until now.

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Cathedral · * · ·
MAY
8
2019
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, is one of the world’s greatest churches.

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 7th century, at the time of Mellitus (d. 624), a Bishop of London. The island was a marshy retreat from the City of London, flanked by two channels of the Tyburn River, which flowed where Downing Street and Great College Street now run. Construction of the present church was begun in 1245, on the orders of Henry III.

It is a designated World Heritage Site and ‘Royal Peculiar’, which means the Dean is directly answerable to the monarch. The coronation of Kings and Queens has taken place here since 1066, and many of the nation’s Kings and Queens are buried in the Abbey. Principal among them is St Edward the Confessor, King of England from 1042 to 1066, whose shrine is at the heart of the Abbey. The Abbey has hosted many royal weddings.

Apart from the royal graves, there are many famous commoners interred here, especially in Poets’ Corner, where you’ll find the resting places of Chaucer, Dickens, Hardy, Tennyson, Dr Johnson and Kipling as well as memorials to the other greats (Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Brontë etc). Nearby are the graves of Handel and Sir Isaac Newton.

The octagonal Chapter House dates from the 1250s and was where the monks would meet for daily prayer before Henry VIII’s suppression of the monasteries some three centuries later. Used as a treasury and ’Royal Wardrobe’, the cryptlike Pyx Chamber dates from about 1070. The neighbouring Abbey Museum has as its centrepiece the death masks of generations of royalty.

In the Abbey precincts lies St Margaret’s Church (the Church of the House of Commons), the Great and Little Cloisters, the Chapter House and Museum, and College Garden, the oldest garden in England. The Abbey Library and Muniments Room offer research facilities by appointment. Also here are Westminster School, strongly associated with the Abbey, and Westminster Abbey Choir School, which educates the Abbey’s choristers.


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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY

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Comment
Wendy    
Added: 22 Mar 2024 15:33 GMT   

Polygon Buildings
Following the demolition of the Polygon, and prior to the construction of Oakshott Court in 1974, 4 tenement type blocks of flats were built on the site at Clarendon Sq/Phoenix Rd called Polygon Buildings. These were primarily for people working for the Midland Railway and subsequently British Rail. My family lived for 5 years in Block C in the 1950s. It seems that very few photos exist of these buildings.

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Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:42 GMT   

Road construction and houses completed
New Charleville Circus road layout shown on Stanford’s Library Map Of London And Its Suburbs 1879 with access via West Hill only.

Plans showing street numbering were recorded in 1888 so we can concluded the houses in Charleville Circus were built by this date.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

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Comment
Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:04 GMT   

Charleville Circus, Sydenham: One Place Study (OPS)
One Place Study’s (OPS) are a recent innovation to research and record historical facts/events/people focused on a single place �’ building, street, town etc.

I have created an open access OPS of Charleville Circus on WikiTree that has over a million members across the globe working on a single family tree for everyone to enjoy, for free, forever.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

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Comment
Charles   
Added: 8 Mar 2024 20:45 GMT   

My House
I want to know who lived in my house in the 1860’s.

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NH   
Added: 7 Mar 2024 11:41 GMT   

Telephone House
Donald Hunter House, formerly Telephone House, was the BT Offices closed in 2000

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Comment
Paul Cox   
Added: 5 Mar 2024 22:18 GMT   

War damage reinstatement plans of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street
Whilst clearing my elderly Mothers house of general detritus, I’ve come across original plans (one on acetate) of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street. Might they be of interest or should I just dispose of them? There are 4 copies seemingly from the one single acetate example. Seems a shame to just junk them as the level of detail is exquisite. No worries if of no interest, but thought I’d put it out there.

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Comment
Diana   
Added: 28 Feb 2024 13:52 GMT   

New Inn Yard, E1
My great grandparents x 6 lived in New Inn Yard. On this date, their son was baptised in nearby St Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch

Source: BDM London, Cripplegate and Shoreditch registers written by church clerk.

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Comment
Vic Stanley   
Added: 24 Feb 2024 17:38 GMT   

Postcose
The postcode is SE15, NOT SE1

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LOCAL PHOTOS
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William Shakespeare
TUM image id: 1509551019
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Broadway SW1
TUM image id: 1530117235
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In the neighbourhood...

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William Shakespeare
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Overflow of the Thames at Lambeth Stairs on Tuesday 29 January 1850. Lambeth Stairs was near to Lambeth Palace. Poor river wall maintenance meant that the area was flooded whenever there was an unusually high tide.
Credit: Illustrated London News
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The original, Brunel-built Hungerford Bridge.
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Broadway SW1
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The Two Chairmen, Dartmouth Street Adjacent to the Cockpit Stairs, the "Two Chairmen" pub was established possibly in 1729. It is thought to be the oldest public house in Westminster. The pub’s name is a nod to the practice of hiring sedan chairs, which were available for rent outside the establishment. Sedan chairs, a popular mode of transport for short London journeys, allowed passengers to travel above the city’s filth and mud. They were introduced in the early years of King Charles I’s reign.
Credit: Wiki Commons/Philafrenzy
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Newspaper seller on Horse Guards Avenue (1937) A reminder that newspapers invented ’clickbait’. From the archive of amateur London photographer, John Turner
Credit: John Turner/Museum of London
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Traffic jam on Victoria Embankment (1926) It’s possible that this photo dates from the period of the General Strike - explaining the lack of trams in the shot
Credit: Associated Newspapers
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Cockpit Steps in Westminster once led down to the Royal Cockpit - an 18th century cockfighting venue. The Royal Cockpit disappeared in 1810 but the stairs have remained.
Credit: GoArt/The Underground Map
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Whitehall, just before the 1953 Coronation. View northwards from Horse Guards Avenue towards Trafalgar Square. Decorations are already going up for the Queen’s Coronation six days later.
Credit: Ben Brooksbank
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Carlton House Terrace consists of a pair of terraces - white stucco-faced houses on the south side of the street overlooking St James’s Park
Credit: Wiki Commons
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