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Westminster Abbey, West End
London church that is the site of coronations and other ceremonies of national significance. It stands just west of the Houses of Parliament in the Greater London borough of Westminster. Situated on the grounds of a former Benedictine monastery, it was refounded as the Collegiate Church of St. Peter in Westminster by Queen Elizabeth I in 1560. Legend relates that Saberht, the first Christian king of the East Saxons, founded a church on a small island in the River Thames, then known as Thorney but later called the west minster (or monastery), and that this church was miraculously consecrated by St. Peter. It is certain that about 785 there was a small community of monks on the island and that the monastery was enlarged and remodelked by St. Dunstan about 960.
Since William the Conqueror, every British sovereign has been crowned in the abbey except Edward V and Edward VIII, neither of whom was crowned. Many kings and queens are buried near the shrine of Edward the Confessor or in Henry VII\'s chapel. The last sovereign to be buried in the abbey was George II (1760); since then they have been buried at Windsor Castle.
The abbey is crowded with the tombs and memorials of famous British subjects, such as Sir Isaac Newton, David Livingstone, and Ernest Rutherford. Part of the south transept is well known as Poets\' Corner and includes the tombs of Geoffrey Chaucer, Ben Jonson (who was buried upright), John Dryden, Robert Browning, and many others. The north transept has many memorials to British statesmen. The grave of the "Unknown Warrior," whose remains were brought from Flanders (Belgium) in 1920, is in the centre of the nave near the west door.
Houses of Parliament
In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the seat of the bicameral Parliament included the House of Commons and the House of Lords. It is located on the left bank of the River Thames in the borough of Westminster, London.
The building was built for Edward the Confessor in the 11th century and enlarged by William I, the Conqueror. In 1512 the palace suffered greatly from fire and thereafter ceased to be used as a royal residence. St. Stephen\'s Chapel was used in 1550 for the meetings of the House of Commons, held previously in the chapter house of Westminster Abbey; the Lords used another apartment of the palace. A fire in 1834 destroyed the whole palace except the historic Westminster Hall, the Jewel Tower, the cloisters, and the crypt of St. Stephen\'s Chapel
Big Ben, tower clock famous for its accuracy and for its massive bell (weighing more than 13 tons). It is housed in St. Stephen\'s Tower, at the northern end of the Houses of Parliament.
The clock was designed by Edmund Beckett Denison and built by E.J. Dent. The name of the clock is said by some historians to stand for Sir Benjamin Hall, the commissioner of works. At the time of the clock and bell\'s installation in 1859, the name applied only to the bell, but it eventually came to indicate the clock itself.
Houses of Parliament and Big Ben
Buckingham Palace
The Residence of the British sovereign. It is situated within the borough of Westminster. The palace takes its name from the house built (1705) for John Sheffield, duke of Buckingham. It was bought in 1762 by George III for his wife, Queen Charlotte, and became known as the queen\'s house. By order of George IV, John Nash initiated the conversion of the house into a palace in the 1820s. Nash also reshaped the Buckingham Palace Gardens and designed the Marble Arch entryway, which was later removed (1851) to the northeast corner of Hyde Park. The Mall front, or Fore Court (east side), was expanded in 1847 by Edward Blore and redesigned in 1913 by Sir Aston Webb as a background for the Queen Victoria Memorial statue. Nash\'s garden front (west side) remains virtually unchanged. Victoria was the first sovereign to live there (1837).
Since the mid-18th century the Royal Mews (stables and coach houses with living quarters above) have been located on the palace grounds; the current buildings date from 1824-25. Within the mews are the luxurious motorcars, dozens of carriages, and horses that figure prominently in royal processions and ceremonies. Notable among the carriages are the Gold State Coach (1762), the Irish State Coach (1852), and the Glass State Coach (1910).
Main Gate of Buckingham Palace
Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus is situated between the neighbourhoods of St. James (south) and Soho (north) in the borough of Westminster. As a traffic hub and neon-lit gathering place, Piccadilly Circus attracts visitors from throughout the world, many of whom sprawl on the steps of its stone island, which is crowned by the 1893 aluminum statue of Eros (formally entitled the Angel of Christian Charity, it was built as a memorial to the 7th earl of Shaftesbury). The intersection\'s first electric advertisements appeared in 1910, and from 1923 giant electric billboards were set up on the facade of the London Pavilion (then a theatre). Many of the surrounding buildings were redeveloped to house retail shops in the 1980s. The 19th-century Criterion building was restored in the early 1990s.
Hyde Park
A park in the borough of Westminster, London. It covers more than 138 hectares and is bordered on the east by Mayfair and on the west by Kensington Gardens.
The park shares a large curved lake with its western neighbour; the portion of the lake in Kensington Gardens is known as the Long Water, whereas the Hyde Park portion is called the Serpentine. The lake is used for boating in the summer and skating in the winter. In the park\'s northeastern corner, near Marble Arch, is Speakers\' Corner, which has long been a centre of free speech for soapbox orators. Also in the park are the Hudson Bird Sanctuary, a bandstand, large fountains, a ranger\'s lodge, and, in the southeastern corner of the park, the statue of Achilles (1822), which recalls the duke of Wellington\'s victories. Not far from the statue, and nearly adjoining the park, is the Wellington Museum (1952), which is housed in a structure built in 1771-78. Nearby starts a celebrated riding track, Rotten Row, which traverses the park westward.
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Suare
A plaza in the City of Westminster, named for Lord Nelson\'s naval victory (1805) in the Battle of Trafalgar. Possibly the most famous of all London squares, Trafalgar Square has always been public and has had no garden. Seven major arteries pump automobiles around the great paved space, which is dominated by Nelson\'s Column (1839-43), a 56-metre-high monument to Lord Nelson that includes a 15-metre-high statue of him by E.H. Baily. At the corners of the column\'s plinth are four bronze lions sculpted by Sir Edwin Landseer and cast by Baron Marochetti.
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