137-686: Shepperton is a village in the Spelthorne district, in north Surrey , England, around 15 mi (24 km) south west of central London. The settlement is on the north bank of the River Thames , between the towns of Chertsey and Sunbury-on-Thames . The village is mentioned in a document of 959 AD and in the Domesday Book . In the 19th century, resident writers and poets included Rider Haggard , Thomas Love Peacock , George Meredith , and Percy Bysshe Shelley , who were attracted by
274-422: A cruciform floorplan. The master stonemason for the project was Leofsi Duddason, with Godwin and Wendelburh Gretsyd (meaning "fat purse") as patrons, and Teinfrith as "churchwright", probably meaning someone who worked on the carpentry and roofing. Endowments from Edward supported a community that increased from a dozen monks during Dunstan 's time, to as many as 80. The building was completed around 1060 and
411-520: A gibbet at Tyburn . In 1669, the abbey was visited by the diarist Samuel Pepys , who saw the body of the 15th-century queen Catherine de Valois . She had been buried in the 13th-century Lady chapel in 1437, but was exhumed during building work for the Henry VII Chapel and not reburied in the intervening 150 years. Pepys leaned into the coffin and kissed her on the mouth, writing "This was my birthday, thirty-six years old and I did first kiss
548-515: A Little Cloister, on the site of the monks' infirmary. The Little Cloister dates from the end of the 17th century and contains a small garden with a fountain in the centre. A passageway from the Little Cloister leads to College Garden , which has been in continuous use for 900 years, beginning as the medicine garden for the monks of the abbey and now overlooked by canons' houses and the dormitory for Westminster School . The newest part of
685-499: A bomb that fell outside the chapel. No one was killed, and the abbey continued to hold services throughout the war. When hostilities ceased, evacuated objects were returned to the abbey, 60,000 sandbags were moved out, and a new permanent roof was built over the crossing. Two different designs for a narthex (entrance hall) for the west front were produced by architects Edwin Lutyens and Edward Maufe during World War II, but neither
822-444: A jawbone which was taken by a boy from Westminster School and kept by his family until 1906, when it was returned to the abbey. In the 1830s, the screen dividing the nave from the choir, which had been designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, was replaced by one designed by Edward Blore . The screen contains the monuments to the scientist Isaac Newton and the military general James Stanhope . Further rebuilding and restoration occurred in
959-410: A lantern tower was never built. The current squat pyramid dates from the 18th century; the painted wooden ceiling below it was installed during repairs to World War II bomb damage. In the early 16th century, a project began under Abbot John Islip to add two towers to the western end of the church. These had been partially built up to roof level when building work stopped due to uncertainty caused by
1096-506: A long boundary with the River Thames in its southernmost salient, which almost surrounds Spelthorne . Old Shepperton is almost surrounded by the extreme southern meander within this. Prehistoric glacial retreat north of this has made the north bank almost flat for a considerable distance and as such, elevation never exceeds 14 m above mean sea level (on the border of Laleham ). The river never exceeds 11.5 m, (beside Dumsey Meadow and under Chertsey Bridge ). The lowest elevation
1233-413: A minority of the social housing . The non-urban parts, inclusive of the embanked water retaining reservoirs, are today for the most part Spelthorne's parks and lakes . The bulk of the rest is mostly narrow buffering land being arable farming, horse-grazing meadows and sheep grazing on the reservoir embankments and fringes with Green Belt legal status. Shopping is available in each of the towns and in
1370-557: A monastic and royal treasury. The outer walls and circular piers also date to the 11th century; several capitals were enriched in the 12th century, and the stone altar was added in the 13th century. The term pyx refers to the boxwood chest in which coins were held and presented to a jury during the Trial of the Pyx , when newly minted coins were presented to ensure they conformed to the required standards. The chapter house and Pyx Chamber are in
1507-602: A precursor to the House of Commons . Henry III also commissioned the Cosmati pavement in front of the High Altar. Further work produced an additional five bays for the nave, bringing it to one bay west of the choir . Here, construction stopped in about 1269. By 1261, Henry had spent £29,345 19s 8d on the abbey, and the final sum may have been near £50,000. A consecration ceremony was held on 13 October 1269, during which
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#17327759575671644-508: A queen." She has since been re-interred close to her husband, Henry V. In 1685, during preparations for the coronation of James II , a workman accidentally put a scaffolding pole through the coffin of Edward the Confessor. A chorister, Charles Taylour, pulled a cross on a chain out of the coffin and gave it to the king, who then gave it to the Pope. Its whereabouts are unknown. At the end of
1781-414: A reception hall built in 1498. Its front cladding has mathematical tiles. Listed in the same high category of listed building is the parish church, St Nicholas' – its dedication is as with the ancient riverside churches of Thames Ditton and Chiswick . Also architecturally Grade II* is restored half timbered Winches Cottage on the west side of the lane which is 17th century. The village includes
1918-567: A regatta to Penton Hook in July for racing shells . Sunbury Skiff and Punting Club is the newest of all six which are quite clustered on the Thames, several of which incorporate dongola racing , dragon boat racing and canoeing . It organises an August regatta with fireworks. In May the Staines 10k charity run takes place organised by two local running/'strolling' clubs and the council. One of
2055-464: A service of evening prayer with archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams . On 29 April 2011, the abbey hosted the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton . In 2018, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries were opened. Located in the medieval triforium , high up around the sanctuary, they are areas for displaying the abbey's treasures. A new Gothic access tower with a lift was designed by
2192-531: A short, square, eastern end (as was the English fashion), Westminster Abbey has a long, rounded apse , and it also has chapels radiating from the ambulatory, which is typical of a French Gothic style. However, there are also distinctively English elements, such as the use of materials of contrasting colours, as with the Purbeck marble and white stone in the crossing. The northern entrance has three porches, with
2329-549: A stable and energy-efficient drinking water supply to London, are bird reserves and in the case of the Queen Mary Reservoir, a sailing training centre. A similar percentage of land is covered by other lakes, mostly former gravel pits no longer pumped out of water. The 10-kilometre (6.2 mi) River Ash, Surrey starts and ends in the borough. Of recognised high importance to nature is Staines Moor , which alongside Sheepwalk Lake and wetlands , Shepperton are
2466-616: A village or neighbourhood. Its post town is Shepperton. Its parish is Sunbury-on-Thames . In the south of the neighbourhood, on the Shepperton side of the motorway are a general waste transfer station, further fields and Sunbury Golf Course, which has 18 holes and is bisected by the Shepperton railway line. Charlton appears in Domesday Book as Cerdentone . It was held by Roger de Rames. Its domesday assets were: 5 hides ; 1½ ploughs (with potential for 3½), meadow for 4 ploughs , cattle pasture. It rendered £1 10s 0d. However this manor
2603-453: A wide range of restaurants, several cafés, with the railway terminus at the northern end. Shepperton railway station saw high ticketed entries and exits for a settlement of its size to 422,000 (6 April 2010 – 5 April 2011), being a terminus with main commercial destinations being in the City of London , Kingston upon Thames . commercial hubs of West London and South London accessed along
2740-677: A woman chained herself to her chair during a sermon by the Archbishop of Canterbury . On 11 June 1914, a bomb planted by suffragettes of the Women's Social and Political Union exploded inside the abbey. No serious injuries were reported, but the bomb blew off a corner of the Coronation Chair. It also caused the Stone of Scone to break in half, although this was not discovered until 1950 when four Scottish nationalists broke into
2877-604: Is Littleton . 51°24′40″N 0°26′38″W / 51.411°N 0.444°W / 51.411; -0.444 Charlton is a suburban hamlet and narrow area to the north, bounded to the west by the Queen Mary Reservoir in Littleton , bounded to the east and south by Thames water treatment works from that reservoir and by the M3 motorway . As a well-developed hamlet, bounded by farms, it also referred to as
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#17327759575673014-637: Is 9 m in flood meadows at the confluence of the Ash with the Thames. The Ash is the border with Littleton and Sunbury-on-Thames (mostly, to the northeast, with its technical hamlet , Upper Halliford ). Dumsey Meadow SSSI is the only piece of undeveloped, unfenced water meadow by the river remaining on the River Thames below Caversham , and is home to a variety of rare plants and insects. The Swan Sanctuary moved to an old gravel extraction site by Fordbridge Road in 2005 from its former base in Egham . On
3151-472: Is a short, since 1989 bypassed, winding lane from the High Street to Church Square, flanked by Shepperton Manor and the cricket ground, with some listed walls. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner described the view looking towards the south-east of the square with its now listed buildings and river opening as "one of the most perfect village pictures that the area has to offer". It offers two pub/restaurants two hotels,
3288-450: Is a village, with the second highest concentration of development in the post town. This neighbourhood is smaller than the adjoining village, separated by the M3 motorway and some adjoining meadows and fields. The second of the borough's Green Belt SSSIs , Sheep Walk Meadows, is a key feature of Shepperton Green, bounding it, to its south. A Saxon and medieval burial ground gives its name to
3425-403: Is chiefly built in a Geometric Gothic style, using Reigate stone for facings. The church has an eleven-bay nave with aisles , transepts , and a chancel with ambulatory and radiating chapels . The building is supported with two tiers of flying buttresses . The western end of the nave and the west front were designed by Henry Yevele in a Perpendicular Gothic style. The Henry VII Chapel
3562-523: Is closed to the public, except for special events. The abbey includes side chapels radiating from the ambulatory. Many were originally included in the 13th-century rebuilding as altars dedicated to individual saints, and many of the chapels still bear saints' names (such as St Nicholas and St Paul). Saints' cults were no longer orthodox after the English Reformation, and the chapels were repurposed as places for extra burials and monuments. In
3699-617: Is co-ordinated by Surrey County Council who also provide the statutory emergency fire and rescue service who have a station in Sunbury. St Peter's Hospital on the far side of Chertsey is a large NHS hospital administrated by Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust. It was opened under its existing name in 1947. The South East Coast Ambulance Service Foundation Trust provides emergency patient transport to and from this facility. Other forms of health care are provided for locally by several small clinics and surgeries. Waste management
3836-681: Is co-ordinated by the local authority via the Surrey Waste Disposal Authority and domestic waste collected by Spelthorne Borough Council . Locally produced inert waste for disposal is sent to landfill in Alfold and Shefford , and a proportion to energy from waste plants in Slough and Kent to lower landfill tax. Plans have been approved to permit gasification in Charlton in the north of the Shepperton post town as part of
3973-557: Is due in 2027. Since the last boundary changes in 2003 the council has comprised 39 councillors representing 13 wards , with each ward electing three councillors. Elections are held every four years. The council offices are at Knowle Green in Staines. The building was opened in 1972 for the former Staines Urban District Council, shortly before that council was abolished in 1974 to be replaced by Spelthorne Borough Council. The borough council estimates it has 3.0 square kilometres (750 acres) of parks, including, from Shepperton upstream,
4110-487: Is for this reason a bridge and ferry was recorded here from 1274 to 1410. The tern is applicable also to the mostly riverside homes and public park almost surrounded by the River Thames , south of the road from Kingston to Chertsey including next to Walton Bridge by Walton on Thames . The main park is Bishop Duppas Park and almost surrounds completely the Old Manor. There is mention of Halliford in 962 and there
4247-532: Is in the Bayeux Tapestry . The foundations still survive under the present church, and above ground, some of the lower parts of the monastic dormitory survive in the undercroft , including a door said to come from the previous Anglo-Saxon abbey. It was a little smaller than the current church, with a central tower. In 1103, thirty-seven years after his death, Edward's tomb was re-opened by Abbot Gilbert Crispin and Henry I , who discovered that his body
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4384-553: Is largely ceremonial in Spelthorne. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council . The leaders since 1995 have been: Following the 2023 election and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to July 2024, the composition of the council was: Five of the independent councillors sit together as the 'Independent Spelthorne Group', the other sits with the Conservatives. The next election
4521-605: Is largely urban; although outside the boundaries of Greater London , it is almost entirely inside the M25 motorway which encircles London . The borough contains several large reservoirs, including the Wraysbury Reservoir , Staines Reservoirs and Queen Mary Reservoir , which all supply fresh water to London and surrounding areas. The neighbouring districts are Elmbridge , Runnymede , Windsor and Maidenhead , Slough , Hillingdon , Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames ,
4658-524: Is the only major English saint whose body still occupies his shrine. Arranged around him in a horseshoe shape are a series of tombs of medieval kings and their queens: Henry III, Eleanor of Castile , Edward I, Philippa of Hainault , Edward III , Anne of Bohemia , and Richard II. Henry V is in the centre of the horseshoe, at the eastern end. Henry III's tomb was originally covered with pieces of coloured glass and stone, since picked off by generations of tourists. Above Henry V's tomb, at mezzanine level over
4795-449: The 2023 election , independent councillor Joanne Sexton was appointed leader of the council, with Liberal Democrat councillor Chris Bateson serving as deputy leader. The first elections to the council were held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows: The role of mayor
4932-507: The Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster , is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster , London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British monarchs and a burial site for 18 English, Scottish, and British monarchs. At least 16 royal weddings have taken place at the abbey since 1100. Although the origins of the church are obscure, an abbey housing Benedictine monks
5069-584: The English Reformation . In the 1530s, Henry VIII broke away from the authority of the Catholic Church in Rome and seized control of England's monasteries , including Westminster Abbey, beginning the English Reformation . In 1535, when the king's officers assessed the abbey's funds, their annual income was £3,000. Henry's agents removed many relics, saints' images, and treasures from
5206-663: The Office for National Statistics managed to classify 50.8 square kilometres (19.6 sq mi), 99% of land in Spelthorne. The findings of this study showed that the land use in Spelthorne was as follows: Two Rivers Retail Park and Elmsleigh Shopping Centre in Staines-upon-Thames. In 2016 there were: The district has two publicly sponsored leisure centres and two private clubs with pools, and two without pools: It has two golf courses. School-taught English sports: cricket and football are played at many pitches;
5343-456: The Palace of Westminster and St Margaret's Church became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987 because of their historic and symbolic significance. The church's Gothic architecture is chiefly inspired by 13th-century French and English styles, although some sections of the church have earlier Romanesque styles or later Baroque and modern styles. The Henry VII Chapel , at the east end of
5480-509: The Public Record Office in 1863. It was restored by George Gilbert Scott in the 19th century. The entrance is approached from the east cloister via outer and inner vestibules , and the ceiling becomes higher as a visitor approaches the chapter house. It is an octagonal room with a central pillar, built with a small crypt below. Around the sides are benches for 80 monks, above which are large stained-glass windows depicting
5617-464: The River Thames had a vision of Saint Peter near the site. This seems to have been quoted as the origin of the salmon that Thames fishermen offered to the abbey, a custom still observed annually by the Fishmongers' Company . The origins of the abbey are generally thought to date to about 959, when Dunstan and King Edgar installed a community of Benedictine monks on the site. At that time,
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5754-463: The Thames Path . Its sixteen main parks with recreational/sports facilities are supplemented by small greens and linear parks, such as those by the River Thames . The largest parks have woodland and flowering meadow. These support diverse and rare grasses, invertebrates and birds on a rich alluvial soil: Laleham Park and Sunbury Park . The final great reduction of private parks was that of
5891-412: The ambulatory , is a chantry chapel built by mason John Thirske and decorated with many sculpted figures (including Henry V riding a horse and being crowned in the abbey). At the western end, the shrine is separated from the main church by a stone reredos which makes it a semi-private space. The reredos depicts episodes from Edward's life, including his birth and the building of the abbey. The shrine
6028-518: The civil parish had a population of 6060. On 1 April 1974 the parish was abolished. In semi-fiction, George Eliot 's Scenes of Clerical Life telling the Sad Fortunes of The Rev. Amos Barton , gives a thinly veiled picture of Chilvers Coton 's church and village in the early 19th century in which she uses the name Shepperton. If anything real is to be gleaned for its use, it is perhaps a passing similarity. Shepperton Manor by John Mason Neale
6165-687: The isotope composition of her teeth suggested that she had grown up in an area where lead-zinc ore was found, possibly Derbyshire , the Mendips or the North Pennines . A reconstruction of the face of the woman from the skull was created at the University of Manchester in 2004. Finds from the Iron Age include an inhumation of a woman in her 40s, found on Chertsey Road, and iron swords, discovered at Shepperton Ranges. Pewter plates, from
6302-411: The refectory , and the east to the chapter house and dormitory. In the southwest corner of the cloisters is a cellarium formerly used by the monks to store food and wine; in modern times, it is the abbey café. The north cloister and northern end of the east cloister, closest to the church, are the oldest; they date to c. 1250 , whereas the rest are from 1352 to 1366. The abbey also contains
6439-426: The summer solstice and lumps of red ochre had been placed inside the ditch to mark the position of the most southerly moonrise . The ditch appeared to have been refilled and re-excavated in the late Neolithic. Two burials were discovered at the site - a torso, probably male, and an almost complete skeleton of a female. Radiocarbon dating showed that the woman had lived in the late 3rd millennium BCE and analysis of
6576-482: The transepts were designed to be unusually long and the choir was placed east (rather than west) of the crossing; this is also seen in Rheims Cathedral . The 13th-century interior would have been painted in bright colours and gilded, although the piers would have been left unpainted. Although the nave was built over the course of centuries from the east to the west end, generations of builders stuck to
6713-460: The 17th century, the architect Christopher Wren was appointed the abbey's first Surveyor of the Fabric . He began a project to restore the exterior of the church, which was continued by his successor, William Dickinson . After over two hundred years, the abbey's two western towers were built in the 1740s in a Gothic– Baroque style by Nicholas Hawksmoor and John James . On 11 November 1760,
6850-672: The 1950s. This estate of buildings on this street are in a conservation area for proving a successful modular development in geometric , white-painted modernism from in the 1960s, one of very few private sector estate housing experiments of the 1960s with terraced, white panelled communal landscaped front gardens by Swiss architect Edward Schoolheifer; this American Radburn style was also used by Eric Lyons Span Developments in Ham Common, Richmond , London, Blackheath , London and New Ash Green , Kent. The conservation areas of Old Shepperton and Lower Halliford are localities, as
6987-531: The 19th century under the architect George Gilbert Scott , who rebuilt sections of the chapter house and north porches, and designed a new altar and reredos for the crossing. His successor, J. L. Pearson , finished the work on the north porches and also reconstructed the northern rose window. The abbey saw "Prayers For Prisoners" suffragette protests in 1913 and 1914. Protesters attended services and interrupted proceedings by chanting "God Save Mrs Pankhurst " and praying for suffragette prisoners. In one protest,
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#17327759575677124-419: The 19th century, there are originally expensive gravestones of the local minor gentry in the churchyard, two of which are dedicated to their naturalised black servants , Benjamin and Cotto Blake who both died in 1781. These bear the inscription "Davo aptio, Argo fidelior, ipso Sanchone facetior". During this long period since the conquest the wealth of the local rector and his bishop was great: William Grocyn
7261-602: The Anchor Hotel and the Warren Lodge Hotel. In this little square there is also the King's Head public house. The riverside manor, late 18th century, (its predecessor, as with the church here, predates the 12th century), features a room painted and rendered to look like a tent or draped damask . Also Grade II* listed is the c. 1500 timber framed Old Rectory refronted in the early 18th century, and including
7398-598: The Catholic Mary I , but they were again ejected under Elizabeth I in 1559. In 1560, Elizabeth re-established Westminster as a " royal peculiar " – a church of the Church of England responsible directly to the sovereign, rather than to a diocesan bishop – and made it the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter, a non-cathedral church with an attached chapter of canons, headed by a dean. From that date onwards,
7535-680: The Church of England Diocese of London and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster . The rest of Surrey falls into the Anglican dioceses of Guildford and Southwark , and the Roman Catholic diocese of Arundel and Brighton . Floods in 2014 caused internal damage to 891 (or 2.2%) of homes in Spelthorne due to record rainfall causing Thames flooding . This compared to internal damage to more than 30% of homes in
7672-456: The Dean and Chapter announced that, "after a considerable amount of preliminary and exploratory work", efforts toward the construction of a corona would not be continued. The Cosmati pavement underwent a major cleaning and restoration programme for two years, beginning in 2008. On 17 September 2010, Pope Benedict XVI became the first pope to set foot in the abbey when he participated in
7809-521: The English Gothic style favours large and elaborate towers, while Westminster Abbey did not have any towers until the 18th century. It is also more similar to French churches than English ones in terms of its ratio of height to width: Westminster Abbey has the highest nave of any Gothic church in England, and the nave is much narrower than any medieval English church of a similar height. Instead of
7946-497: The Old Manor House (Halliford). From the 1760s—1860s a ropery was an industry here then from the 1860s—1870s brick clay was extracted. Halliford Manor, confusingly also called The Old Manor, dates to at least the 13th century and ownership became royal, being held by Elizabeth I and the wives of Charles I and Charles II . The Bishop of Winchester , Brian Duppa (1588–1662) owned the waterside meadows adjoining to
8083-563: The Roses , Elizabeth Woodville , the wife of Edward IV , took sanctuary at Westminster Abbey while her husband was deposed, and gave birth to Edward V in the abbot's house. In 1495, building work finally reached the end of the nave, finishing with the west window. Under Henry VII , the 13th-century Lady chapel was demolished and rebuilt in a Perpendicular Gothic style ; it is known as the Henry VII Chapel . Work began in 1503 and
8220-587: The Saxon Junior School who use it for playing fields and has Scheduled status. A farm combined with a significant amount of fishing and gravel lakes form the outskirts and within the clustered settlement an estate of the homes was built as non-serving personally barracks for the British Army . The population of Shepperton, according to the census of 1801, was 731. This number increased gradually to 858 forty years later, increasing further to
8357-600: The Shepperton reaches (of the Thames Path ) as heading upstream from Hampton Court Palace another marked version takes Walton Bridge , the official version takes the Shepperton-Weybridge Ferry and another marked version crosses to the north bank at Chertsey Bridge . Upper Halliford has since the early 20th century been in Shepperton post town , and almost contiguous , but with its own station, residential roads, fair and shopping parade, even an Upper Halliford Village sign. Arguably in modern analysis it
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#17327759575678494-601: The abbey architect and Surveyor of the Fabric, Ptolemy Dean . In 2020, a 13th-century sacristy was uncovered in the grounds of the abbey as part of an archaeological excavation. The sacristy was used by the monks of the abbey to store objects used in Mass , such as vestments and chalices . Also on the site were hundreds of buried bodies, mostly of abbey monks. On 10 March 2021, a vaccination centre opened in Poets' Corner to administer doses of COVID-19 vaccines . The building
8631-461: The abbey as a "National Valhalla ". Historians agree that there was a monastery dedicated to Saint Peter on the site prior to the 11th century, though its exact origin is somewhat obscure. One legend claims that it was founded by the Saxon king Sæberht of Essex , and another claims that its founder was the fictional 2nd-century British king Lucius . One tradition claims that a young fisherman on
8768-516: The abbey at the outbreak of war, and were replaced by priests loyal to Parliament. The abbey itself suffered damage during the war; altars, stained glass, the organ, and the Crown Jewels were damaged or destroyed. Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell was given an elaborate funeral there in 1658, only for a body thought to be Cromwell's to be disinterred in January 1661 and posthumously hanged from
8905-494: The abbey is the Weston Tower, finished in 2018 and designed by Ptolemy Dean . It sits between the chapter house and the Henry VII Chapel, and contains a lift shaft and spiral staircase to allow public access to the triforium, which contains the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries. The tower has a star-shaped floorplan and leaded windows with an elaborate crown rooftop. The lift shaft inside is faced with 16 kinds of stone from
9042-552: The abbey owned estates across southeast England, including in Middlesex , Hertfordshire , Essex , Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire . The abbot was also the lord of the manor in Westminster, as a town of two to three thousand people grew around the abbey. As a consumer and employer on a grand scale, the abbey helped fuel the town's economy, and relations with the town remained unusually cordial, but no enfranchising charter
9179-513: The abbey was officially granted exemption from the Bishop of London 's jurisdiction, making it answerable only to the head of the Church itself. By this time, the abbey owned a large swath of land around it, from modern-day Oxford Street to the Thames, plus entire parishes in the City of London , such as St Alban, Wood Street and St Magnus the Martyr , as well as several wharfs. Outside London,
9316-470: The abbey's history, including Purbeck marble, Reigate stone, and Portland stone . The project took five years and cost £22.9 million. The galleries were designed by McInnes Usher McKnight. The church's interior has Purbeck marble piers and shafting. The roof vaulting is quadripartite, with ridge ribs and bosses and, at 102 feet (31 m), it is one of Britain's highest church vaults. To accommodate as many guests as possible during coronations,
9453-467: The abbey's own fire-watchers were able to stop the fire spreading to the whole of the church, the deanery and three residences of abbey clergy and staff were badly damaged, and the lantern tower above the crossing collapsed, leaving the abbey open to the sky. The cost of the damage was estimated at £135,000. Some damage can still be seen in the RAF Chapel , where a small hole in the wall was created by
9590-439: The abbey. The golden feretory that housed the coffin of Edward the Confessor was melted down, and monks hid his bones to save them from destruction. The monastery was dissolved and the building became the cathedral for the newly created Diocese of Westminster . The abbot, William Benson, became dean of the cathedral, while the prior and five of the monks were among the twelve newly created canons . The Westminster diocese
9727-463: The abbot at Westminster Abbey. In 1303, the small crypt underneath the chapter house was broken into and a great deal of the king's treasure was stolen. It was thought that the thieves must have been helped by the abbey monks, fifty of whom were subsequently imprisoned in the Tower of London . From 1376, Abbot Nicholas Litlyngton and Richard II donated large sums to finish the church. The remainder of
9864-535: The annual amount rendered was £ 6. The Church Lane and Church Square area, leading to and next to the river predates by several centuries the High Street as the village nucleus . When the Thames Valley Railway built in 1864 the terminus of Shepperton railway station , 1 mile (1.6 km) north, for the 12 initial years a single train and track running to and from Strawberry Hill , the village slowly expanded into its northern fields. Its coming which
10001-515: The area plus adjoining parts of modern Greater London. The district was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor . The borough ceded a small amount of land in 1995, when Poyle was transferred to Slough. The Spelthorne area was included in the Metropolitan Police District from 1840 until 2000, when it passed to Surrey Police . Spelthorne remains part of
10138-400: The borough, which is an unparished area . On 27 February 2024, Spelthorne Borough Council unveiled their Corporate Plan for 2024-2028, highlighting their key priorities for the next few years. As of 2023, the council had £1.1 billion in borrowing, with the highest borrowing to income ratio of any council in England. The council has been under no overall control since 2020. Following
10275-519: The building was simply a church, though it was still called an abbey. Elizabeth also re-founded Westminster School , providing for 40 students (the King's (or Queen's) Scholars ) and their schoolmasters. The King's Scholars have the duty of shouting Vivat Rex or Vivat Regina ("Long live the King/Queen") during the coronation of a new monarch. In the modern day, the dean of Westminster Abbey remains
10412-498: The central one featuring an elaborately-carved tympanum , leading it to acquire the nickname " Solomon 's porch" as a reference to the legendary temple in Jerusalem . The abbey retains its 13th- and 14th-century cloisters , which would have been one of the busiest parts of the church when it was part of a monastery. The west cloister was used for the teaching of novice monks, the north for private study. The south cloister led to
10549-686: The chair of the school governors. In the early 17th century, the abbey hosted two of the six companies of churchmen who produced the King James Version of the Bible. They used the Jerusalem Chamber in the abbey for their meetings. The First Company was headed by the dean of the abbey, Lancelot Andrewes . In 1642, the English Civil War broke out between Charles I and his own parliament . The Dean and Chapter fled
10686-401: The church had existed prior to 1600). In June 2009, the first major building work in 250 years was proposed. A corona – a crown-like architectural feature – was suggested to be built around the lantern over the central crossing, replacing an existing pyramidal structure dating from the 1950s. This was part of a wider £23-million development of the abbey completed in 2013. On 4 August 2010,
10823-572: The church to steal the stone and return it to Scotland. In preparation for bombing raids during World War II , the Coronation Chair and many of the abbey's records were moved out of the city, and the Stone of Scone was buried. In 1941, on the night of 10 May and the early morning of 11 May, the Westminster Abbey precincts and roof were hit by incendiary bombs. Although the Auxiliary Fire Service and
10960-572: The church, is a typical example of Perpendicular Gothic architecture; antiquarian John Leland called it orbis miraculum ("the wonder of the world"). The abbey is the burial site of more than 3,300 people , many prominent in British history: monarchs, prime ministers , poets laureate , actors, musicians, scientists, military leaders, and the Unknown Warrior . Due to the fame of the figures buried there, artist William Morris described
11097-549: The coats of arms of several monarchs and the abbey's patrons and abbots. The exterior includes flying buttresses (added in the 14th century) and a leaded roof designed by Scott. The interior walls of the chapter house are decorated with 14th- and 15th-century paintings of the Apocalypse , the Last Judgement , and birds and animals. The chapter house also has an original, mid-13th-century tiled floor. A wooden door in
11234-578: The county's Eco Park to take up to half of the county's residual waste. Shepperton's distribution network operator for electricity is UK Power Networks ; aside from renewables there are no power stations in the area. Thames Water manages Shepperton's drinking and waste water ; water supplies being sourced from the London sources including several reservoirs fed by the River Thames locally. There are water treatment works at Ashford , Hampton and sewage treatment works at Isleworth . Shepperton has
11371-557: The county's major archery clubs (Spelthorne Archers) and five lawn bowls clubs. Fishing is open to all, subject to rod licensing, from the Thames Path National Trail and adjoining islands in Laleham and Staines as well as at lakes in Shepperton and Ashford. One rowing club is in the borough, at Laleham, with others nearby including Staines Boat Club across Staines Bridge from the town centre which organises
11508-456: The earliest of an English king, on display near the west door. Building work was not fully complete for many years. Henry V , disappointed with the abbey's unfinished state, gave extra funds towards the rebuilding. In his will, he left instructions for a chantry chapel to be built over his tomb; the chapel can be seen from ground level. Between 1470 and 1471, because of fallout from the Wars of
11645-521: The early 20th century to a little short of 10,000 in 2011. Lindsay had hoped to extend the railway via Chertsey to connect to the South Western Main Line, however the village station remains a terminus. The rise in population and passing trade led to small businesses lining most of its high street by the end of the 20th century. Shepperton Film Studios is in the neighbouring village of Littleton , approximately 1 mi (2 km) to
11782-632: The early 20th century, a sale of Laleham manor demesne by the Earl of Lucan . The Jockey Club , as owner of Kempton Park Racecourse , is successor to the domain of the lords of the manor of Kempton – about 40% is a large nature reserve with its internal two large ponds abutting the Kempton Park Reservoirs Site of Special Scientific Interest , on Thames flood meadow . The borough has five reservoirs, covering more than 15% of land, which apart from their main use of ensuring
11919-465: The eastern aisle of the north transept are named after (from south to north) St John the Evangelist, St Michael, and St Andrew. The chapels of St Nicholas, St Edmund, and St Benedict are in the south ambulatory. The footprint of the south transept is smaller than the northern one because the 13th-century builders butted against the pre-existing 11th-century cloisters . To make the transepts match,
12056-403: The eastern end of the nave is a large screen separating the nave from the choir, made of 13th-century stone, reworked by Edward Blore in 1834, and with paintwork and gilding by Bower in the 1960s. Behind the main altar is the shrine and tomb of Edward the Confessor . Saints' shrines were once common in English medieval churches, but most were destroyed during the English Reformation and Edward
12193-594: The end of the 19th century. Between 1891 and 1901 its population rose by 511 to 1,810. The population also rose substantially between 1931 and 1951, to 6,060 people. Data for 1801–1951 is available at Britain Through Time. The 2001 and 2011 Censuses give detailed information about the Town ward and Shepperton Green. The settlement had 9,753 residents, living in 4,301 households. Of those, 83.6% of residents described their health as 'good', for this overall figure, above
12330-448: The entire eastern end, the transepts , and the easternmost bay of the nave . The Lady chapel , built from around 1220 at the extreme eastern end, was incorporated into the chevet of the new building. Part of the new building included a rich shrine and chapel to Edward the Confessor, of which the base only still stands. The golden shrine with its jewelled figures no longer exists. 4,000 marks (about £5,800) for this work came from
12467-732: The establishment of poor law unions and Sanitary Districts and was completed with the founding, in 1889, of the Middlesex County Council and Staines Rural District from 1896. In 1930 on the rural district's abolition, Shepperton became part of the Sunbury-on-Thames Urban District until its dissolution into a reduced and reconfigured county of Surrey in 1965. Three districts of the historic county thus did not become part of Greater London : Staines Urban District also joined Surrey and Potters Bar Urban District joined Hertfordshire . In 1951
12604-678: The estate of David of Oxford, the husband of Licoricia of Winchester , and a further £2,500 came from a forced contribution from Licoricia herself, by far the biggest single donation at that time. Around 1253, Henry of Reynes was replaced by John of Gloucester, who was replaced by Robert of Beverley around 1260. During the summer, there were up to 400 workers on the site at a time, including stonecutters, marblers, stone-layers, carpenters, painters and their assistants, marble polishers, smiths, glaziers, plumbers, and general labourers. From 1257, Henry III held assemblies of local representatives in Westminster Abbey's chapter house ; these assemblies were
12741-491: The first floor. Halliford School in the centre of this area was the 18th–19th century home of Emma Hamilton , mistress of Admiral Nelson . The 21st century fully renovated hotel and restaurant (formerly the Ship ), Harrison's with river views is here beside the shorter Red Lion public house which in turn has a narrow, secluded south-facing public house picnic area overlooking the relatively narrow, non-tidal river Thames. It
12878-449: The funeral of George II was held at the abbey, and the king was interred next to his late wife, Caroline of Ansbach . He left instructions for the sides of his and his wife's coffins to be removed so that their remains could mingle. He was the last monarch to be buried in the abbey. Around the same time, the tomb of Richard II developed a hole through which visitors could put their hands. Several of his bones went missing, including
13015-415: The later side; the shields on the aisle walls are carved on the earlier side, and painted on the later side. Above the crossing, in the centre of the church, is a roof lantern which was destroyed by a bomb in 1941 and restored by architect Stephen Dykes Bower in 1958. In the choir aisles, shields of donors to the 13th- and 14th-century rebuilding are carved and painted in the spandrels of the arcade . At
13152-471: The latter site, are thought to date from the late Roman period. Evidence of late-Iron Age and Saxon settlements was found at Shepperton Green in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Shepperton is recorded in Domesday Book of 1086 as Scepertone . It had a population of 25 households and was held by Westminster Abbey ; (excluding any woodland, marsh and heath) it had eight hides , pasture for seven carucates and one weir (worth 6 s 8d per year). In total,
13289-509: The latter three being London boroughs . The district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 , covering two former districts which were both abolished at the same time: These two urban districts had been part of Middlesex prior to 1965, when they had been transferred to Surrey on the creation of Greater London. The new district was named after the medieval hundred of Spelthorne, which had covered
13426-465: The local area is from the middle Neolithic . A henge , taking the form of a penannular ring ditch , was discovered in the late 1980s, close to the River Ash, to the north of Shepperton Green. The structure was around 23 m (75 ft) in diameter and is thought to have been constructed c. 3500 BCE . The main entrance to the henge was aligned with the position of the sun at sunrise on
13563-468: The location was an island in the Thames called Thorney Island . This building has not survived, but archaeologists have found some pottery and foundations from this period on the abbey site. Between 1042 and 1052, Edward the Confessor began rebuilding Saint Peter's Abbey to provide himself with a royal burial church. It was built in the Romanesque style and was the first church in England built on
13700-407: The main structure was completed by 1509, although decorative work continued for several years afterwards. Henry's original reason for building such a grand chapel was to have a place suitable for the burial of another saint alongside the Confessor, as he planned on having Henry VI canonised. The Pope asked Henry VII for a large sum of money to proclaim Henry VI a saint; Henry VII was unwilling to pay
13837-498: The mayor with a large ceremony and some press, after Sunbury had held a similar competition. The board itself includes a grassland to represent the pastures and provides local information. Four infant/junior/primary schools, a senior comprehensive school and senior private school are in the village. See List of schools in Surrey Home Office policing in Shepperton is provided by Surrey Police . Public transport
13974-734: The more than 720 nationwide 5,000-metre running competitions of the major organiser is around the rugby union club in its borders, which has a small nature reserve it owns to one end. Other venues hosting annual events in a range of sports are Kempton Park Racecourse and Staines Lammas Park. The stated proportion of land that is absorbed by domestic dwellings tends to be housing with gardens forming suburbs to London and otherwise has mid rise urban town centres with exceptional offices (in Staines-upon-Thames) and apartments (in Sunbury-on-Thames) which are high rise, including
14111-493: The neighbourhood of Lower Halliford, formerly a near but separate hamlet, which historian Susan Reynolds places at the eastern end of a reduced, river bend-consumed half of the early medieval village, east of the Old Shepperton Conservation Area due to erosion . This area is typified by a small number of detached classical three-storey 18th century riverside houses high on the riverside road on
14248-516: The neighbouring settlement of Wraysbury in the borough of Windsor and Maidenhead . In 2014 a campaign group of local business leaders called for the borough – along with others close to the capital – to be transferred from the county of Surrey to Greater London. The proposal was generally opposed by the public and was not pursued. Spelthorne Borough Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Surrey County Council . There are no civil parishes in
14385-774: The north ambulatory are the Islip Chapel, the Nurses' Memorial Chapel (sometimes called the Nightingale Chapel), the Chapel of Our Lady of the Pew, the Chapel of St John the Baptist, and St Paul's Chapel. The Islip Chapel is named after Abbot John Islip , who commissioned it in the 16th century. The screen inside is decorated with a visual pun on his name: an eye and a boy falling from a tree (eye-slip). Additional chapels in
14522-528: The north. The Swan Sanctuary and two SSSIs , one of which is managed by Surrey Wildlife Trust , are nearby. The first written record of Shepperton is from a charter of 959, in which it appears as Scepertune . The name is thought to derive from the Old English scēp (sheep), hirde (herdsman) and tūn (enclosure, farm or settlement). The name is generally agreed to mean "shepherd's farm" or "shepherd's settlement". The earliest evidence of human activity in
14659-491: The old nave was pulled down and rebuilding commenced, with his mason Henry Yevele closely following the original design even though it was now more than 100 years out of date. During the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, Richard prayed at Edward the Confessor's shrine for "divine aid when human counsel was altogether wanting" before meeting the rebels at Smithfield . In the modern day, the abbey holds Richard's full-length portrait,
14796-498: The opposite bank are in downstream order are Chertsey Bridge and Chertsey Meads , the Hamm Court area of Addlestone , three islands, (the first two of which have multiple properties) ( Lock , Hamhaugh and D'Oyly Carte , one large man-made island, ( Desborough ), and the riverside parts of Walton on Thames , the upstream part of which is also open land, Cowey Sale Park. The towpath is the official route of three passing through
14933-428: The original design and it has a unified style. Markers of the long gap in building between 1269 and 1376 are relatively minor, but can be seen at the fifth bay from the crossing. The spandrels above the arches are towards the earlier east end are decorated with diaper-work , and are plain towards the (later) west end. The lancet windows on the earlier side have a foiled circle, and have an unencircled quatrefoil on
15070-545: The outside of the river bend; the bend being flanked by riverside meadows with small boat moorings , low rise chalet-style houses to the south west, the Las Palmas Estate , named after the land once being that of the Spanish Ambassador; further west by the wooded Shepperton Cricket Club and by the village Green, Bishop Duppas Park to the east, formerly Lower Halliford Common and in a small part owned by
15207-547: The proximity of the River Thames . The river was painted at Walton Bridge in 1754 by Canaletto and in 1805 by Turner . Shepperton Lock and nearby Sunbury Lock were built in the 1810s, to facilitate river navigation. Urbanisation began in the latter part of the 19th century, with the construction in 1864 of the Shepperton Branch Line , which was sponsored by William Schaw Lindsay , the owner of Shepperton Manor. Its population rose from 1,810 residents in
15344-405: The regional average. Of these people 47.3% described their health as very good, below the regional average. 20.4% of 16- to 74-year-olds had no work qualifications, below the English average of 22.5%. In 2011 the area had only 114 people who were in the category "never worked/long-term unemployed". The average level of accommodation in the region composed of detached houses was 28%, the average that
15481-555: The remains of Edward the Confessor were moved to their present location at the shrine behind the main altar. After Henry's death and burial in the abbey in 1272, construction did not resume and Edward the Confessor's old Romanesque nave remained attached to the new building for over a century. In 1296, Edward I captured the Scottish coronation stone, the Stone of Scone . He had a Coronation Chair made to hold it, which he entrusted to
15618-418: The route; this is supplemented by secondary school usage, with a substantial state school and private school. The Village Hall in the High Street has a large depiction of the economic life and of the history of the village. In October 2011, a group of children from St Nicholas C of E Primary School won a competition to create the history board, which was then edited by a graphic designer and officially opened by
15755-485: The sites of special scientific interest (SSSI). Hospitality is widespread in the riverside towns. Sunbury and Staines town hubs are within 6 miles (10 km) of top UK attractions such as Windsor Castle, Thorpe Park, Hampton Court, Twickenham Rugby Stadium and Kew Gardens. Staines is the borough's main station, being served by South Western Railway services to London Waterloo , Reading and Windsor & Eton Riverside . A January 2005 enhanced base map study by
15892-488: The south and was also an important landowner in Croydon 's history, see Duppas Hill . Wealthy writers built or expanded homes here in the 19th century, primarily as summer residences, such as Rider Haggard , Thomas Love Peacock , George Meredith and Percy Bysshe Shelley . The Old Manor became yet another rebuilt Georgian house. The house which features a modillioned eaves cornice and glazing-bar sash windows to
16029-427: The south transept overhangs the western cloister; this permitted a room above the cloisters which was used to store the abbey muniments . In the south transept is the chapel of St Faith , built c. 1250 as the vestry for the abbey's monks. On the east wall is a c. 1290 – c. 1310 painting of St Faith holding the grid-iron on which she was roasted to death. The octagonal chapter house
16166-431: The sum, and so instead he is buried in the centre of the chapel with his wife, Elizabeth of York , rather than a large raised shrine like the Confessor. A view of the abbey dated 1532 shows a lantern tower above the crossing , but this is not shown in any later depiction. It is unlikely that the loss of this feature was caused by any catastrophic event: structural failure seems more likely. Other sources maintain that
16303-604: The third, rugby union is played at the London Irish Hazelwood Centre sharing pitches with London Irish Amateur Rugby Football Club in Sunbury. Staines Rugby Club play next to the Feltham -Hanworth-Sunbury tripoint in Lower Feltham. Spelthorne has two football clubs – semi- or non-professional – as the top men's sides compete in the lower leagues: Spelthorne hosts one of
16440-514: The vestibule, made with a tree felled between 1032 and 1064, is one of Britain's oldest. It may have been the door to the 11th-century chapter house in Edward the Confessor's abbey, and was re-used as the door to the Pyx Chamber in the 13th century. It now leads to an office. The adjoining Pyx Chamber was the undercroft of the monks' dormitory. Dating to the late 11th century, it was used as
16577-473: The village centre. Across the River Ash, Surrey , which is no more than a stream most of the year, adjoining, to its north is Littleton . Taken together with Littleton, three farms operate on the edges of this conjoined residential area, providing a buffer to the north and west. Shepperton's central SSSI is on the south side of the motorway Sheep Lake Walk and meadows , managed by Surrey Wildlife Trust . To
16714-630: The village of Shepperton but not in the other small villages which are connected by road and bus to the nearby towns. Kempton Park Racecourse and Shepperton Studios are in Spelthorne. Staines is the largest town and has local government and judicial buildings. Each of the towns has libraries and schools. In July 2017, Shepperton was named as the UK's most courteous town by the National Campaign for Courtesy. Notes References Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey , formally titled
16851-521: The west are large lakes (one sifted and worked for gravel). This means that Shepperton Green with Littleton is buffered to all sides, except for its eastern side with its road bridge to Shepperton proper, classified as Shepperton Town ward and county council electoral division. This area is currently grouped with Laleham for all local elections. Shepperton has a traditional high street, shorter than that at nearby Ashford with two medium-size supermarkets, village hall, library, shops, optician, hairdressers,
16988-471: Was consecrated on 28 December 1065, about a week before Edward's death on 5 January 1066. A week later, he was buried in the church; nine years later, his wife Edith was buried alongside him. His successor, Harold Godwinson , was probably crowned here, although the first documented coronation is that of William the Conqueror later that year. The only extant depiction of Edward's abbey
17125-710: Was a settlement there by 1194. However the division into Upper and Lower Halliford does not appear until the late 13th century. Upper Halliford is a large hamlet in the parish of Sunbury, but Lower Halliford was almost certainly the main settlement of the manor. The creation of Desborough Cut diverted the main navigation of the Thames away from the Lower Halliford and Shepperton loop, rendering flooding far less common. The poet Thomas Love Peacock lived at Elm Bank House here from 1822 until his death in 1866. The field land and large houses on this estate were bought by Lyon Homes from landowner and developer Edward Scott in
17262-522: Was apartments was 22.6%. Borough of Spelthorne Spelthorne is a local government district with borough status in Surrey , England. Its council is based in Staines-upon-Thames ; other settlements in the area include Ashford , Sunbury-on-Thames , Shepperton , Stanwell and Laleham . It is named after the medieval Spelthorne Hundred which had covered the area. The borough
17399-614: Was built in a late Perpendicular style in Huddlestone stone, probably by Robert and William Vertue . The west towers were designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and blend the Gothic style of the abbey with the Baroque style fashionable during his lifetime. The modern Westminster Abbey is largely based on French Gothic styles, especially those found at Reims Cathedral , rather than the contemporaneous English Gothic styles. For example,
17536-402: Was built. Because of its outstanding universal value, the abbey was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, together with the nearby Palace of Westminster and St Margaret's Church . In 1997, the abbey, which was then receiving approximately 1.75 million visitors each year, began charging admission fees to visitors at the door (although a fee for entering the eastern half of
17673-410: Was contemporaneously written in 1844 fifteen years after he had spent six years living in the village. Old parts of Shepperton are said to be haunted by the ghost of a headless monk. Battlecrease Hall (formerly home to Walter Hayes , Ford Motor Company executive and a founder of the company's Formula One programme) is alleged by its owners and certain visitors to have poltergeists . Leading to this
17810-455: Was dissolved in 1550, but the abbey was recognised (in 1552, retroactively to 1550) as a second cathedral of the Diocese of London until 1556. Money meant for the abbey, which is dedicated to St Peter, was diverted to the treasury of St Paul's Cathedral ; this led to an association with the already-old saying " robbing Peter to pay Paul ". The abbey saw the return of Benedictine monks under
17947-406: Was in the parish of Sunbury and unlike the three adjoining manors, Shepperton, Halliford and Sunbury did not reach down to the river public meadowlands, used for grazing of animals. 51°23′53″N 0°27′32″W / 51.398°N 0.459°W / 51.398; -0.459 Shepperton Green is that part of the village which continues immediately west of the M3 motorway, north-west of
18084-646: Was issued during the Middle Ages . Westminster Abbey continued to be used as a coronation site, but after Edward the Confessor, no monarchs were buried there until Henry III began to rebuild it in the Gothic style . Henry III wanted it built as a shrine to venerate Edward, to match great French churches such as Rheims Cathedral and Sainte-Chapelle , and as a burial place for himself and his family. Construction began on 6 July 1245 under Henry's master mason, Henry of Reynes. The first building stage included
18221-468: Was largely due to contributions and permission of W. S. Lindsay the owner of Shepperton's manor. The River Thames was important for transport from the late 13th century and carried barley, wheat, peas and root vegetables to London's markets; later timber, building materials such as bricks, sand and lime, and gunpowder , see the Wey Navigation . While the village was wholly agricultural until
18358-423: Was on the site by the mid-10th century. The church got its first large building from the 1040s, commissioned by King Edward the Confessor , who is buried inside. Construction of the present church began in 1245 on the orders of Henry III . The monastery was dissolved in 1559, and the church was made a royal peculiar – a Church of England church, accountable directly to the sovereign – by Elizabeth I . The abbey,
18495-525: Was rector 1504–1513 and was an Oxford classical academic who corresponded regularly with Erasmus and Lewis Atterbury (1707–31) expended much of the large parish revenues on having the large tower rebuilt. A large net income of rents and tithes of £499 per year was paid to the rectory belonging to S. H. Russell in 1848; this compares to £600 of poor relief, including for supporting its workhouse, paid out in 1829. A change to secular council-administered rather than church-administered public services followed
18632-435: Was still in perfect condition. This was considered proof of his saintliness, and he was canonised in 1161. Two years later he was moved to a new shrine, during which time his ring was removed and placed in the abbey's collection. The abbey became more closely associated with royalty from the second half of the 12th century, as kings increasingly used the nearby Palace of Westminster as the seat of their governments. In 1222,
18769-512: Was used by the abbey monks for daily meetings, where they would hear a chapter of the Rule of St Benedict and receive their instructions for the day from the abbot. The chapter house was built between 1250 and 1259 and is one of the largest in Britain, measuring nearly 60 feet (18 m) across. For 300 years after the English Reformation, it was used to store state records until they were moved to
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