50 Fun Facts About Westminster Abbey

What is Westminster Abbey's formal title?

It has not been an abbey with monks since 1559, and it is not a cathedral either; it is a 'royal peculiar' answering directly to the sovereign.

Since 1066, how many English and British monarchs have been crowned at the abbey?

The first documented coronation was William the Conqueror's on Christmas Day 1066; Harold Godwinson was probably crowned there earlier that year.

Which king built the first large church on the site in the 1040s and is buried inside?

His church was consecrated on 28 December 1065, about a week before he died; he was canonised in 1161.

Construction of the present Gothic church began in 1245 on the orders of which king?

He wanted a shrine to Edward the Confessor to rival Reims Cathedral and the Sainte-Chapelle, and a burial place for his own family.

The abbey originally stood on an islet in the Thames known as what?

Dunstan and King Edgar installed a community of Benedictine monks there in about 959.

The monks who occupied the abbey from the 10th century until 1559 belonged to which order?

The community grew from about a dozen monks under Dunstan to as many as 80 under Edward the Confessor.

In 1560 the abbey was re-established as a 'royal peculiar', meaning it answers directly to whom?

Elizabeth I set it up that way after ejecting the monks for the second time; she also re-founded Westminster School.

The abbey's Gothic design is chiefly modelled on churches from which country?

Reims Cathedral was the main inspiration, which is why the nave is unusually tall and narrow for an English church.

The abbey's nave holds what distinction among Gothic churches in England?

The vault reaches 102 feet (31 m), and the nave is far narrower than any medieval English church of similar height.

The two western towers were only added in the 1740s, designed by which architect?

He blended Gothic with the Baroque of his own day; the abbey had no towers at all for its first 500 years.

The Henry VII Chapel is a celebrated example of which style?

The antiquary John Leland called it orbis miraculum, 'the wonder of the world', for its pendant fan-vaulted ceiling.

Westminster Abbey's Tudor chapel was built to house the remains of which king its founder wanted canonised?

The abbey paid £500 for papal permission to move the body from Windsor, but Henry VIII dropped the plan and buried his father there instead.

The tomb of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York was sculpted by an Italian famous for having done what?

Pietro Torrigiano fled Italy after the brawl and ended up working for the Tudors.

The Henry VII Chapel has been the mother church of which order of chivalry since 1725?

The banners of its members hang above the stalls; the Garter's home is St George's Chapel, Windsor.

The 13th-century tile floor before the High Altar is named after which Roman family of craftsmen?

It is unique among such floors for its dark Purbeck-marble borders, and it was cleaned and restored over two years from 2008.

From 1257, assemblies of local representatives in the abbey's chapter house were a precursor to what?

The octagonal room, nearly 60 feet across, has benches for 80 monks and an original 13th-century tiled floor.

Britain's oldest dated door, in the abbey's chapter house vestibule, came from a tree felled in which period?

Known as the Pyx door, it may have served Edward the Confessor's chapter house before being reused in the 13th century.

The word 'pyx', as in the Pyx Chamber, refers to a boxwood chest used to hold what?

At the Trial of the Pyx a jury still checks that new coins meet the required standards.

Which king had the Coronation Chair made and entrusted it to the abbot of Westminster?

He had captured the Scottish coronation stone in 1296 and wanted a throne to hold it.

The Coronation Chair was carved from oak by which craftsman?

It has been used at every coronation since 1308, and its gilded lion legs were replaced in 1727.

Who is blamed for the initials and graffiti carved into the Coronation Chair?

Souvenir hunters also hacked at the corner posts; the chair was left largely unguarded for centuries.

In 1914 the Coronation Chair was damaged by a bomb thought to have been planted by whom?

The blast blew off a corner of the chair and, unknown to anyone until 1950, cracked the Stone of Scone in half.

Where did the Stone of Scone turn up in April 1951 after nationalists took it from the abbey?

The four students who took it at Christmas 1950 left it on the altar of the abbey where Scotland's 1320 declaration of independence was signed.

The Stone of Scone was returned to Scotland in which year?

It was kept at Edinburgh Castle with the Honours of Scotland and moved to Perth Museum in 2024, travelling south for the 2023 coronation.

The pupils of Westminster School have the duty of shouting what during a coronation?

The King's or Queen's Scholars have done so since Elizabeth I re-founded the school with 40 pupils.

Oliver Cromwell was given a lavish funeral at the abbey in 1658; what happened to his body in 1661?

The restored monarchy took a posthumous revenge on the Lord Protector, and his head ended up on a pole above Westminster Hall.

During preparations for James II's coronation in 1685, a workman accidentally did what?

The saint's coffin was inside a shrine whose golden casing had been melted down at the Reformation.

Who was the last monarch to be buried in Westminster Abbey?

He was interred next to Caroline of Ansbach in 1760; later monarchs lie at Windsor or Frogmore.

The south transept is known as Poets' Corner; who was the first poet buried there, around 1400?

He got the spot not for his verse but because he was Clerk of the King's Works and lived in the abbey precincts.

William Shakespeare's monument in Poets' Corner was erected in which year?

The playwright is buried in Stratford-upon-Avon; his memorial arrived more than a century after his death.

Which playwright is buried standing upright in the north aisle of the nave?

The story goes that he could not afford a full plot; his slab reads 'O rare Ben Johnson'.

Which composer is buried in Poets' Corner?

Most musicians, including Purcell and Vaughan Williams, lie in the north aisle of the nave instead.

Whose lavish funeral and monument in 1727 made abbey burial a coveted honour for British people?

A cluster of scientists now surrounds his tomb, including Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking.

Stephen Hawking's ashes were interred in the abbey in 2018 between the graves of which two scientists?

The thanksgiving service was held on 15 June 2018, three months after his death.

The Unknown Warrior was buried in the abbey on which date?

A French unknown soldier was interred beneath the Arc de Triomphe on the same day, the second anniversary of the Armistice.

The Unknown Warrior's grave is unique in the abbey because it is the only tombstone that is what?

The black Belgian marble slab carries an inscription in brass melted down from wartime ammunition.

The idea of the Unknown Warrior came from David Railton, who was what?

He wrote to the dean in 1920 proposing that an unidentified soldier be buried 'amongst the kings'.

Which royal bride began the tradition of leaving her bouquet on the Unknown Warrior's grave?

The future Queen Mother did it at her 1923 wedding, and most royal brides have followed since.

Prince William married Catherine Middleton at the abbey in which year?

Their wedding licence is now on display in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries.

An estimated how many people worldwide watched Diana's 1997 funeral at the abbey?

It remains the most widely viewed event in the abbey's history; she was buried privately on an island at Althorp.

Elizabeth II's 2022 funeral was the abbey's first for a monarch in more than how long?

The previous one was in 1760; the Queen was then buried at St George's Chapel, Windsor.

Westminster Abbey became a World Heritage Site in 1987 with the Palace of Westminster and which church?

The little church next door is the parish church of the House of Commons.

The ten statues over the Great West Door, added in 1998, depict what?

The Modern Martyrs include Martin Luther King Jr., Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Oscar Romero.

The Weston Tower, finished in 2018, was built to give access to what?

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries up there display royal funeral effigies, some in their original clothes.

Which artist designed a 2018 stained-glass window for the north transept celebrating Elizabeth II's reign?

He drew the hawthorn-blossom design on an iPad.

The abbey's roof lantern above the crossing was destroyed by what in 1941?

Incendiaries fell on the night of 10-11 May; the lantern was rebuilt by Stephen Dykes Bower in 1958.

The abbey is the burial site of roughly how many people?

William Morris called it a 'National Valhalla' for its monarchs, prime ministers, poets, actors and scientists.

After the 1303 Westminster crypt robbery, how many monks were jailed in the Tower on suspicion of helping?

The abbey was the king's treasury at the time, and the inside-job theory seemed obvious.

The abbey began charging general admission fees to visitors in which year?

It was then receiving about 1.75 million visitors a year, though a fee for the eastern half had existed before 1600.

Which diarist visited the abbey in 1669 and saw the unburied body of Queen Catherine de Valois?

Henry V's queen had been exhumed during work on the Henry VII Chapel and left above ground for around 150 years.