London - Westminster and Whitehall Travel Guides | London | Sub Regions | London - Westminster and Whitehall

The seat of central government power in the Kingdom is an administrative beehive and one of the few parts of London that achieves any architectural cohesion. Parliament Square, especially viewed from the Broad Sanctuary by Westminster Abbey, manages to present a stirring picture of common purpose with its array of skybound Gothic towers. And Whitehall too makes a decent stab at Venetian grandeur as it connects the Houses of Parliament with Trafalgar Square. And even though there are easily enough places to see and things to do around here to occupy at least a whole day, the impression is very much one of being kept at arm’s length. Surprisingly though, plenty of people do live here, especially in the streets beyond Westminster Abbey between Millbank and Victoria Street, which are really the only place for a drink in an interesting pub or decent meal day or night.

Sights

T 020-7222 5152; information and tours T 020-7654 4834. Mon-Fri 0930-1645 (last admission 1545), Sat 0930-1445 (last admission 1345). Adult £6, £4 concessions. £4 under-16s, under-11’s free with adult. Sun services 0800 (Holy Communion), 1000 (Matins), 1115 (Sung Eucharist), 1500 (Evensong), 1745 (Organ recital), 1830 (Evening service). Weekday services 0730 (Matins, 0900 Sat and bank holidays), 0800 (Holy Communion), 1230 (Holy Communion, except Sat), 1700 (Evensong, 1500 Sat). Chapter House, Pyx Chamber and Museum: summer 1000-1700 daily. Main Cloister open same hours as Abbey. Free (from Dean’s Yard). Little Cloister and College Garden: Tue-Thu summer 1030-1800, winter 1030-1600. Free. M Westminster.

A surprisingly small church for one of such enormous significance in the Anglican faith and British state (especially for its monarchy), Westminster Abbey’s charm lies in its age. It has also long been a well-managed tourist trap. That said, despite the milling crowds clutching the fairly patronizing audio guide and bossy ‘free’ floorplans, it remains a sacred building and anyone wishing to pray here (or join in a service on Sunday when the Abbey is closed to tourists) is allowed to do so free of charge. And there’s also plenty worth seeing for the money.

The length and especially the height (over 100 ft) of the Nave are awe-inspiring. On the tourist route round from the north entrance, this impressive view is left until the end, the tour beginning in the oldest part of the main building, the central Crossing built in the 13th century. Visitors then turn sharp left to skirt the Sanctuary of the High Altar (where sovereigns are crowned) and the founder St Edward the Confessor’s Chapel, past the tombs of Edward I and Henry III, to look at the Coronation Chair. Made to order for the ‘Hammer of the Scots’, Edward I, and used to crown every English monarch except three since 1308, the old wooden chair’s most obvious feature now is the empty space below the seat purpose-built for the Stone of Destiny. (The sandstone coronation block of Scottish monarchs since the ninth century is now back home in its native land and on display in Edinburgh Castle.) Beyond is Henry VII’s Chapel (or Lady Chapel), dating from the early 16th century, an extraordinary medieval pageant of flags, stalls, and tombs below a wonderful vaulted stone roof of cobweb intricacy. On either side of this chapel are the hushed tombs of Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots.

Heading back towards the Crossing, the tour passes Poet’s Corner, decorated with sculptures and monuments to Shakespeare, Chaucer and other poets and actors, as well as scientists, architects, historians and other worthies.

Then it’s out into the fresh air of the Cloisters of the 11th-century monastery, past the Chapter House, Pyx Chamber and Museum. In the octagonal Chapter House, where the House of Commons sat from the mid-14th-16th centuries, the medieval wall paintings of the Last Judgement and the Apocalypse and remarkable tiled floor, decorated with griffins, lions, and mythical beasts, have a faded splendour. The dark little Pyx Chamber was the monastery’s strong room and is the oldest building on site. And the museum in the monks’ Common Room contains some weird Royal funeral effigies from the Middle Ages as well as a more recent and peculiar one of the Duke of Buckingham.

Commons Information Line T 020-7219 4272; Lords Information Line T 020-7219 3107; http://www.parliament.uk. Parliament usually in session mid-Oct to Christmas, Jan-Easter, Jun and Jul: Mon 1430-2200, Tue-Thu 1130-1900, Thu until 1800 approximately. M Westminster.

The Palace of Westminster, better known as the Houses of Parliament, has been the seat of the government of England since the reign of Edward III, when the King and his court of barons and bishops would meet in St Stephen’s Chapel. The chapel and surrounding palace were almost completely razed to the ground by fire in 1834, resulting in the building of the golden Gothic glory in use today.

Its most famous feature is Big Ben, the clock tower overlooking Westminster Bridge. The clock strikes the hour on the 13-ton bell that gives the tower its name, and which can be heard up to 4 ½ miles away.

The oldest part of the building though is Westminster Hall, which survived the fire, behind the statue of the victor in the Civil War, Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. The interior of the Hall with its great hammer-beam roof and the beautifully decorated St Stephen’s Crypt can only be seen on a guided tour.

When Parliament is in session the public are admitted (after a thorough security check) to the ‘Strangers’ Galleries’ of either House through St Stephen’s Gate, just beyond Cromwell’s statue. Generally it’s easier and quicker gaining access to the House of Lords, a very grand and gilded debating chamber with its benches of red morocco leather. In front of the thrones is the woolsack, a cushioned ottoman for the land’s senior judge the Lord Chancellor, a title that’s soon to be abolished, going the same way as the rights of most hereditary peers to vote here. By contrast, the House of Commons seems very small and businesslike with its green leather benches. The Government sit to the Speaker’s right and the Opposition to his left with the front benches reserved for Cabinet Ministers and Shadow Ministers. Apart from during Prime Minister’s Question Time on Wednesdays at 1500, which can only be seen on application to your MP or embassy, both houses are often half- empty or half-asleep. Guided historical tours of both houses are available ( T 0870- 9063773 roughly every 15 mins from 0915-1630 £7, £5 concessions); you can either book in advance or queue up outside.

M Charing Cross or Embankment.

Back by Westminster tube, on the left Portcullis House contains brand new and very expensive offices for MPs opposite the Houses of Parliament, the latest in the series of palatial government buildings that make up Whitehall. In the middle of the road, where Parliament Street becomes Whitehall, stands the Cenotaph, a simple block of Portland Stone designed rapidly by Lutyens for the peace celebrations in July 1919; it has become the focus for national remembrance of the dead of the two World Wars. A service is held annually on the Sunday nearest November 11, the date of the Armistice in 1918. Just further down on the left, in Downing Street, beyond the notorious gates installed by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, number 10 is the deceptively small-looking home and offices of the Prime Minister.

Clive Steps, T 020-7930 6961. Daily Apr-Oct 0930-1800, Nov-Mar 1000-1800 (last admission 1700). £7, concessions £5.50, under-16s free. Audio guide 1 hr 30 mins. M Westminster.

The nerve-centre of Churchill’s morale-boosting war effort, these underground rooms now echo to the sound of his speeches. Highlights include his tiny bedroom, the cramped typing pool, the

T 020-7930 4179, http://www.hrp.org.uk. 1000-1700 (last entry 1630) Mon-Sat. Adult £4, concessions £3. M Charing Cross.

On the corner of Horse Guards Avenue and Whitehall stands the last survivor from the original Whitehall Palace, Inigo Jones’s Banqueting House. Completed in 1622, the building is the only Government property on Whitehall that welcomes uninvited visitors (although it, too, occasionally closes for private receptions). A visit includes an introductory 15-minute historical video in the cellars where James I used to drown his sorrows, followed by a 20-minute audio guide to the splendidly proportioned Banqueting Hall itself. Apart from its historical associations, the main attraction is the ceiling, decorated with nine canvasses by Rubens.

M Westminster or Charing Cross.

Across the road another Palladian edifice built a century later, Horse Guards, is the HQ of the Household Division. The Changing of the Queen’s Life Guard takes place here Monday-Saturday 1100, Sunday 1000, with the guard parading dismounted at 1600 daily, amid a strong smell of horse dung.

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