Biography
Discover Westminster as an island, learn which king made it the royal capital of England, and find out who rebuilt the Abbey in the Gothic style.
The Basics
The land on which Westminster Abbey stands was once an island overgrown with brambles. It was some time in the eighth century that the first church was built here. There was always likely to be something special about the site from the moment that the bishop of London was interrupted on his way to consecrate the church by a visitation from St Peter, who did the job for him, before rising back to heaven amid a celestial choir…
A church on Thorney Island
It's hard to believe today, but Westminster was once an island, lying between the Thames and two streams of the River Tyburn. Covered with brambles, it was named Thorney ("thorn island") by the Anglo-Saxons who settled here.
Edward the Confessor's Abbey
Westminster Abbey was rebuilt and greatly enlarged by King Edward the Confessor (who reigned from 1042-66), the last monarch of the old West Saxon ruling dynasty. It was Edward who made Westminster the royal capital of England.
Henry III's Gothic Church
From the 1240s, Westminster Abbey was rebuilt by King Henry III in the new soaring Gothic style, invented in northern France. Henry spent around £45,000 of his own money on the project - a sum equivalent to billions today. No other medieval monarch ever spent as much on a single church as Henry did at Westminster.
Westminster Abbey
Come with us as TV historian Dan Snow takes us on a brief tour of the Abbey
