Westminster Hall and Westminster Abbey


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An Ard Ri said:
Westminster Abbey is currently celebrating St Edward ,Saint and King who is buried at the Abbey. The Shrine of the king lasted until the 1530's when it was smashed up but later restored under Mary I only to be torn down again under Elizabeth I.

https://www.westminster-abbey.org/about-the-abbey/history/celebrating-st-edward
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Fascinating stuff. This is one reason why I'd be be sad to see the end of the coronation service for British (read English) monarchs in the abbey. The links to England's history are immensely deep & so profound.
 
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I've always felt quite sad when in English churches and cathedrals when contemplating what happened during the reformation and its aftermath. The smashing of tombs and shrines and stained glass windows, the removal of statuettes of saints and whitewashing of wall murals and carved wooden gilded Angels that must have made even small churches such colourful places for their congregations. There's just enough left (and some rediscoveries like wall murals after centuries of neglect) to realise what was lost. The bare bones of English Norman churches and cathedrals are magnificent, but ....
 
Curryong said:
I've always felt quite sad when in English churches and cathedrals when contemplating what happened during the reformation and its aftermath. The smashing of tombs and shrines and stained glass windows, the removal of statuettes of saints and whitewashing of wall murals and carved wooden gilded Angels that must have made even small churches such colourful places for their congregations. There's just enough left (and some rediscoveries like wall murals after centuries of neglect) to realise what was lost. The bare bones of English Norman churches and cathedrals are magnificent, but ....
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Yes I know exactly what you mean. It's almost like a bereavement. The lost world of English Roman Catholicism. The generations of devotion. There are a lot of ghosts as it were.
 
Durham said:
Yes I know exactly what you mean. It's almost like a bereavement. The lost world of English Roman Catholicism. The generations of devotion. There are a lot of ghosts as it were.
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Rereading this I meant to refer to the lost world of Roman Catholic England rather than English Roman Catholicism.

The English monarchy was after all a very Catholic one modeled on the French kings.
 
Sounds fascinating. I hope it's made available on their website.
 
Durham said:
Sounds fascinating. I hope it's made available on their website.
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Tickets were free up until lunchtime today but hopefully they will have a podcast of the event.
 
The seminar doesn't seem to be available to view on the site but tickets for next week's are still free and available. The Advent Podcast is up if anyone's interested.


Curryong said:
There's just enough left (and some rediscoveries like wall murals after centuries of neglect) to realise what was lost. The bare bones of English Norman churches and cathedrals are magnificent, but ....
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Yes, the stone and whitewash of ancient churches (or Victorian churches pretending to be ancient) is such a quintessential English church look that it's easy to forget that they would have been extremely colourful places once upon a time. Many of them do have very faint traces of colour on the stone work that's fascinating. And yes, then someone moves something that's been there for 500 years and you find an amazing treasure painted behind it.
 
And not just the interiors. The glorious west front of Wells Cathedral was painted.
 
Wasn't it a Festive delight!
 
Must be wonderful to have the opportunity be in this great church for midnight mass.

It seemed so busy & commercial the last time I went.
 
They do try and make services focused on the actual worship.

If anyone's at all interested I recommend a choral compline there which they have/had from time to time. Very intimate and they turn the lights off in the immediate Quire area so its just candle light. Almost like being transported back a few hundred years in time.
 
Heavs said:
They do try and make services focused on the actual worship.

If anyone's at all interested I recommend a choral compline there which they have/had from time to time. Very intimate and they turn the lights off in the immediate Quire area so its just candle light. Almost like being transported back a few hundred years in time.
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Thank you for that information. I don't get to London that often but that's certainly something I'd like to experience.:flowers:
 
A little history about the beautiful Westminster Nativity Crib which is displayed infront of the nave altar in the Abbey.The figures 1st appeared at Christmas 1966 in St George’s Chapel but since 2010 are now at the nave altar. The figures were designed by the Revd. Christopher Hildyard.

The figures of the Blessed Virgin Mary, infant Jesus ,St Joseph, shepherds ,3 Kings, ox sheep and donkey.

https://images.app.goo.gl/f7n4wsMy5Lwu8kmE9
 
An Ard Ri said:
A little history about the beautiful Westminster Nativity Crib which is displayed infront of the nave altar in the Abbey.The figures 1st appeared at Christmas 1966 in St George’s Chapel but since 2010 are now at the nave altar. The figures were designed by the Revd. Christopher Hildyard.

The figures of the Blessed Virgin Mary, infant Jesus ,St Joseph, shepherds ,3 Kings, ox sheep and donkey.

https://images.app.goo.gl/f7n4wsMy5Lwu8kmE9
Click to expand...

What a wonderful spectacle! Nearly life size. Must be marvellous to see in person.
 
Today Westminster Abbey began the 1st Christmas films on the message from the Angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

 
The Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey was started by King Henry VII in 1502 and is dedicated to the Our Lady or the Blessed Virgin Mary. The current chapel replaces an older one which was demolished.
The chapel houses several royal tombs including those of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots as well as Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby and the Lady Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox tombs.

https://www.westminster-abbey.org/about-the-abbey/history/lady-chapel
 
The latest Christmas story from Westminster Abbey tells of Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem .

 
The history of the Coronation Chair at Westminster Abbey which dates from 1296 during the reign of Edward I.

 
An Ard Ri said:
The history of the Coronation Chair at Westminster Abbey which dates from 1296 during the reign of Edward I.
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"People have carved their names on it!" :lol: Truth in television.
 
Yes indeed. Generations of Westminster school boys.

Teenagers eh. No respect for anything.:lol:
 
It survived Cromwell and the Puritans and a bomb attack by the organised by the Suffragettes in 1914 ;)
 
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