Palace of Westminster, from the west - in Parliament Square
19th Century view of the Palace of Westminster from the north-east - on Westminster Bridge
Clock Tower and New Palace Yard from the west
St Stephen's Entrance
Westminster Hall from the south
Victoria Tower from the south west
Victoria Tower and south elevation from the south
Victoria Tower from its base at the west
Detail of carving on the Victoria Tower
The Palace of Westminster, on the banks of the River
Thames in Westminster, London,
is the home of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, which together form the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is
also known as the Houses of Parliament.
History
Buildings have occupied the site since at least Saxon times, though the oldest
buildings still in existence date from about 1097. Edward the Confessor established the origins of the present buildings by building a royal palace
on the site from 1050, and until 1529 Westminster was
the main London residence of successive monarchs. A fire in that year caused Henry VIII to decamp from the Privy Palace at the south end of
the site, to the Palace of Whitehall. Despite this, it
remains a royal palace to this day.
On January 20, 1295 the first meeting
of the first English parliament was
conducted here, and - with some short vacations - has sat here ever since, The House of Commons made its first permanent home in St Stephen's Chapel, a part of the palace. It has,
therefore been at the centre of English and then Union government as it progressed from a monarchy to a parliamentary democracy
and so has lent its name to the parliamentary system of government known as the Westminster System.
Much of the ancient structures were destroyed by fire on October 16,
1834, and rebuilt by 1870, when the Houses of
Parliament moved into their current residences.
The Current Palace
The Palace of Westminster occupies a site of approximately 3.24 hectares (8 acres) on the west bank of the Thames as it
runs from south to north on one of its serpentine diversions through the city. The site is bounded to the east by its 266
metres (872ft) waterfront, and to the west by Parliament Square and Millbank. To the north is Portcullis House, a modern office building for MPs and their staff, and beneath which is Westminster tube station. To the south is the Victoria
Tower Garden, a small triangle of park between Millbank and the Thames.
The building has approximately 1,000 rooms, 100 staircases, and two miles of passageways. Although some parts of the building,
such as Westminster Hall predate the 1843 fire, much of the present structure is from the 1870 construction. Some notable parts
of the building include (from north to south):
- The 320ft high slim Clock Tower, undoubtedly the most
famous feature, and housing the bell known as Big Ben, from which the Clock Tower is
colloquially, but strictly inaccurately named.
- Westminster Hall, the earliest parts of which are of Norman
construction, and which has the largest surviving hammerbeam roof. The hall has had many functions, particularly as the site of
the highest court in the land, until 1882.
- The House of Commons and the House of Lords, separated by their respective Lobbies, and by
a Common Lobby, are at the heart of the building.
- The Victoria Tower is the square tower to the south west of the building.
The design of the present buildings was the result of a national competition, and was the work of Charles Barry assisted by Augustus Pugin. The building is, according to Pevsner, in the Tudor Perpendicular style and combines Picturesque elements with Gothic detail.
The stonework of the building was originally Anstone, a sandy magnesian limestone quarried in the village of Anston near Rotherham, South Yorkshire
selected by, amongst others, William Smith,
regarded as the father of English Geology. Anstone proved to be unable to withstand
the acid conditions of London's smogs, and within ten years of construction was derided as
a disgrace. A number of stone replacement projects since then, notably in 1902, have
replaced the vast majority of Anstone with Chipsham Stone, a honey-coloured limestone from Lincolnshire.
Events
On May 11, 1812, Prime Minster Spencer Perceval was assassinated by a bankrupt banker in the lobby of the
House of Commons.
On March 30, 1979 Shadow Northern Ireland
Secretary Airey Neave was killed by a car bomb as he left the House of
Commons car park.
During World War II the House of Commons was destroyed by the Luftwaffe in
a May 10, 1941 air raid, but was rebuilt and resumed use on October 26,
1950. In the interim, the Commons sat in the Lords Chamber, with the Lords sitting in the
adjacent Kings's Robing Room.
See also
Further reading
- Simon Bradley & Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of
England - London 6: Westminster pp. 212-231. Yale University Press 2003. ISBN 0 300 09595 3.
External link
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