Westminster Part I: The Art, Architecture and Archaeology of the Royal Abbey

by Warwick Rodwell (Editor), Tim Tatton-Brown (Editor)

Overview

The British Archaeological Association’s 2013 conference was devoted to the study of Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster. It also embraced Westminster School, which was founded at the Reformation in the Abbey precinct. Collectively, these institutions occupy a remarkable assemblage of medieval and later buildings, most of which are well documented. Although the Association had held a conference at Westminster in 1902, this was the first time that the internationally important complex of historic buildings was examined holistically, and the papers published here cover a wide range of subject matter.

Westminster came into existence in the later Anglo-Saxon period, and by the mid-11th century, when Edward the Confessor’s great new abbey was built, it was a major royal centre two miles south-west of the City of London. Within a century or so, it had become the principal seat of government in England, and this series of twenty-eight papers covers new research on the topography, buildings, art-history, architecture and archaeology of Westminster’s two great establishments — Abbey and Palace.

Part I begins with studies of the topography of the area, an account of its Roman-period finds and an historiographical overview of the archaeology of the Abbey. Edward the Confessor’s enigmatic church plan is discussed and the evidence for later Romanesque structures is assembled for the first time. Five papers examine aspects of Henry III’s vast new Abbey church and its decoration. A further four cover aspects of the later medieval period, coronation, and Sir George Gilbert Scott’s impact as the Abbey’s greatest Surveyor of the Fabric. A pair of papers examines the development of the northern precinct of the Abbey, around St Margaret’s Church, and the remarkable buildings of Westminster School, created within the remains of the monastery in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Part II part deals with the Palace of Westminster and its wider topography between the late 11th century and the devastating fire of 1834 that largely destroyed the medieval palace. William Rufus’s enormous hall and its famous roofs are completely reassessed, and comparisons discussed between this structure and the great hall at Caen. Other essays reconsider Henry III’s palace, St Stephen’s chapel, the king’s great chamber (the ‘Painted Chamber’) and the enigmatic Jewel Tower. The final papers examine the meeting places of Parliament and the living accommodation of the MPs who attended it, the topography of the Palace between the Reformation and the fire of 1834, and the building of the New Palace which is better known today as the Houses of Parliament.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781910887240
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/31/2016
Series:	The British Archaeological Association Conference Transactions
Pages:	426
Product dimensions:	6.88(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

About the Author

Warwick Rodwell, Tim Tatton-Brown

Table of Contents

List of Abbrevations vii

Preface viii

The Medieval and Early Tudor Topography of Westminster Tim Tatton-Brown 1

'A Fine and Private Place': The Sarcophagus of Valerius Amandinus and the Origins of Roman Westminster Martin Henig 23

The Archaeology of Westminster Abbey: An Historiographical Overview Warwick Rodwell 34

Edward the Confessor's Church at Westminster: An Alternative View Francis Woodman 61

The Romanesque Monastic Buildings at Westminster Abbey Stuart Harrison John McNeill 69

Numerical Archaeology: Gleanings from the 1253 Building Accounts of Westminster Abbey Revisited A. Richard Jones 104

The Iconography of Henry Ill's Abbey: A Note Towards Elucidation of Themes Pamela Tudor-Craig 129

The Cosmati Pavements and their Topographical Setting: Addressing the Archaeological Issues Warwick Rodwell 158

Seats, Relics and the Rationale of Images in Westminster Abbey, Henry III to Edward II Paul Binski Emily Guerry 180

The Polychromy at Westminster Abbey, 1250-1350 Helen Howard Marie Louise Sauerberg 205

The Virgin Mary and White Harts Great and Small: The 14th-Century Wall-Paintings in the Chapel of Our Lady of the Pew and the Muniment Room Jane Spooner 262

History and Chronicles at Westminster Abbey, 1250-1450 Richard Mortimer 291

The Abbey and Palace as Theatres for Coronation Nicola Coldstream 301

The New Work: Aspects of the Later Medieval Fabric of Westminster Abbey Tim Tatton-Brown 312

Sir George Gilbert Scott as Surveyor of Westminster Abbey, 1849-78 Steven Brindle 325

An Historical Sketch of the North Precinct of Westminster Abbey with Special Reference to its Prisons Richard Foster 353

Westminster School Buildings, 1650-1730 Eddie Smith 372