Borough in London, England
Westminster
Westminster's famous bell isn't called Big Ben because of the tower, and its abbey has crowned monarchs since Christmas Day 1066. Britain's power base started on a muddy island.
Key information
- County
- Greater London
- Nation
- England
- Population
- about 204,000 (2021 Census)
- Area
- about 21 square kilometres (8 square miles)
- Known for
- Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Downing Street, the West End
- Famous people
- Henry Purcell, Ben Jonson, Alexander Fleming (worked here), Winston Churchill (wartime base)
About Westminster
The 'west minster' on a muddy island
Long before it ran the country, Westminster was Thorney Island, a bramble-covered patch of gravel in the Thames marshes, where a branch of the River Tyburn split around it. In the 1040s Edward the Confessor built a great church there, a 'minster' to the west of the City's St Paul's. The name stuck. His abbey was consecrated in 1065, and he moved his palace next door so he could watch the work. That decision shaped everything. The king lived at Westminster, so the courts, the councils and eventually Parliament gathered there too. Westminster Hall, built under William Rufus in 1097, is still standing and has hosted the trial of Charles I in 1649.
Crowns, poets and an unknown soldier
William the Conqueror was crowned in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066, and almost every coronation since has followed. Charles III's, in 2023, was the latest. The Coronation Chair is the star prop. It once held the Stone of Scone, taken from Scotland in 1296 and returned to Scotland in 1996, with the promise that it would come back for future coronations. The Abbey is also a national memory bank. Poets' Corner holds Chaucer, Dickens and Hardy. Westminster-born composer Henry Purcell was organist here and is buried beside the organ. In 1920 the Unknown Warrior was laid to rest near the west door, with earth brought from France in the coffin.
Why Big Ben isn't the tower
Strictly speaking, Big Ben is the bell, not the clock or the tower. The great bell weighs about 13.7 tonnes and was cast at Whitechapel in 1858. The Great Clock started keeping time in 1859. The tower was renamed the Elizabeth Tower in 2012 for Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee, though almost everyone still says Big Ben. The Palace of Westminster they belong to is Victorian. A fire in 1834 destroyed most of the old medieval palace, and Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin designed the Gothic replacement. Parliament has its own odd rituals. At the State Opening, the door of the Commons is slammed in the face of Black Rod, who has to knock to be let in.
Number 10 and the palace next door
Downing Street is a short, unassuming cul-de-sac named after Sir George Downing, a seventeenth-century soldier and spy. Robert Walpole moved into Number 10 in 1735, and the house has served prime ministers ever since. Nearby, the Cabinet War Rooms sheltered Winston Churchill's team beneath Whitehall during the Second World War. They are now open as a museum. Buckingham Palace began as a townhouse, bought by George III in 1761. Victoria was the first monarch to live there, from 1837. It now has 775 rooms. Horse Guards Parade hosts Trooping the Colour each June.
Lights, theatres and a lot of lions
Westminster is also the West End. Piccadilly Circus has its curtain of lit-up adverts, and the Shaftesbury Memorial fountain, popularly called Eros, has stood there since 1893. Trafalgar Square marks Nelson's victory of 1805. His column was completed in 1843, with Landseer's four bronze lions added in 1867. The Fourth Plinth has become a stage for new art since 1999. Soho, Mayfair and Covent Garden each have their own character, from jazz clubs and film studios to Savile Row tailors and street performers. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928 in a lab at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, also part of Westminster. Cricket lovers head to Lord's in St John's Wood, home of the MCC, the club that wrote the Laws of Cricket.
Pancakes, Scotch eggs and the oldest restaurant
Every Shrove Tuesday, Westminster School holds the Pancake Greaze. A cook tosses a pancake over a high bar, and pupils scramble for it. The boy who ends up with the biggest piece wins a prize. The tradition is recorded from the eighteenth century. Rules in Covent Garden, opened in 1798, is regarded as London's oldest restaurant, and still serves game from its own estate. Fortnum & Mason, which opened in Piccadilly in 1707, claims to have invented the Scotch egg. Gerrard Street's Chinatown, with its lanterns and gates, serves up dim sum a few steps from Leicester Square.