Westminster Hall is a large medieval great hall which is part of the Palace of Westminster in London, England. It was erected in 1097 for William II ("William Rufus"), at which point it was the largest hall in Europe. The building has had various functions over the years, including being used for judicial purposes from the twelfth to the nineteenth centuries. When a joint address is given to the two chambers of the UK Parliament, the House of Commons and House of Lords, the hall is on rare occasions the venue. It is also used for special addresses by Parliament to the Monarch. It was used to host coronation banquets until 1821, and since the twentieth century has been the usual venue for the lyings in state of state and ceremonial funerals .
27-517: The Royal Navy State Funeral Gun Carriage is a converted Ordnance, BL, 12 pdr 6 cwt, MK II, gun carriage which has been used in the UK to bear the coffin at the funeral processions of: Queen Victoria ; King Edward VII ; King George V ; King George VI ; Sir Winston Churchill ; Admiral of the Fleet The 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma ; and Queen Elizabeth II . It is traditionally pulled by members of
54-800: A white hart , chained, and in an attitude of rest – which is repeated eighty-three times, without any of them being an exact copy of another. The largest clearspan medieval roof in England, Westminster Hall's roof measures 20.7 by 73.2 metres (68 by 240 ft). Oak timbers for the roof came from royal woods in Hampshire and from parks in Hertfordshire and from that of William Crozier of Stoke d'Abernon , who supplied over 600 oaks in Surrey , among other sources; they were assembled near Farnham , Surrey, 56 kilometres (35 mi) away. Accounts record
81-590: A foreign leader to be invited to address both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall. Since the Second World War, the only leaders to have done so have been French president Charles de Gaulle in 1960, South African president Nelson Mandela in 1996, Pope Benedict XVI in 2010, U.S. president Barack Obama in 2011, Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in 2012, and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2023. President Obama
108-459: A single huge open space, with a dais at the end. Richard's master builder Henry Yevele retained the original dimensions, refacing the walls, with fifteen life-size statues of kings placed in niches. The rebuilding had been begun by King Henry III in 1245, but by Richard's time had been dormant for over a century. Included in Richard's renovations are repetitions of his favourite heraldic badge –
135-464: Is held at 24-hours readiness for service in a facility kept at a constant temperature of 16–20 °C (61–68 °F) and between 40 and 70% humidity to hinder fungal growth. Most recently, the gun carriage made its first appearance in 43 years for the funeral procession from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on 19 September 2022. It was transported by 138 naval ratings , with 98 pulling, in front of
162-666: The Earl of Strafford , the rebel Scottish lords of the 1715 and 1745 uprisings, and Warren Hastings . On the night of 10 May 1941 at the height of the Blitz, the Palace of Westminster was showered with incendiary bombs. Scottish politician Walter Elliot happened to be nearby, and directed firefighters to prioritise saving the medieval Hall rather than the Chamber of the House of Commons, whose roof
189-692: The Royal Arsenal , Woolwich, being recorded as No. 146. The carriage never saw active service, probably being retained as part of a reserve. Queen Victoria had seen a gun carriage used during the funeral of her son, the Duke of Albany , and requested the same for her funeral. In 1899, No. 146 was handed to the Royal Carriage Department for conversion for use in state funerals . A catafalque and rubber tyres were added but other fittings and fixtures were left unchanged. The carriage
216-539: The 19th century, it was regularly used for judicial purposes, housing three of the most important courts in the land: the Court of King's Bench , the Court of Common Pleas and the Court of Chancery . In the reign of Henry II (1154–1189) a royal decree established a fixed sitting of judges in the Hall. In 1215, Magna Carta stipulated that these courts would sit regularly in the Hall for the convenience of litigants. In 1875,
243-586: The Crown in Westminster Hall on important public occasions. For example, Addresses were presented at Elizabeth II 's Silver Jubilee (1977), Golden Jubilee (2002) and Diamond Jubilee (2012), the Accession of Charles III (2022), the 300th anniversary of the Glorious Revolution (1988), and the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War (1995). It is considered a rare privilege for
270-583: The Royal Navy; when not in use, it is kept at the shore establishment HMS Excellent . A smaller version, known as the Portsmouth Gun Carriage, has been used at the ceremonial funerals of several senior naval officers in the 20th century. The gun carriage is from a British Army Ordnance, BL, 12 pdr 6 cwt, MK II, gun and weighs 2.5 tonnes (2.8 tons). The carriage was made by Vickers, Sons and Maxim in 1896 and entered storage at
297-451: The Second World War. In 2012, a new stained glass window commemorating Queen Elizabeth II's diamond jubilee was installed opposite this window, at the other end of the hall. Westminster Hall has also served ceremonial functions. From the twelfth century to the nineteenth, coronation banquets honouring new monarchs were held here. The last coronation banquet was that of King George IV , held in 1821; his successor, William IV , abandoned
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#1732780255823324-543: The carriage records that it originally came from HMS Pembroke in Chatham, Kent , and was first used for the funeral of Sir Charles Madden at Westminster Abbey on 7 June 1935. It is a QF 12-pounder 8 cwt gun carriage, usually pulled by a team of 18 ratings. BL 12-pounder 6 cwt gun Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include
351-465: The carriage to Windsor Castle, with a team of sailors using improvised drag ropes, made up from the horse harnesses and the communication cord taken from the royal train. This started a tradition that has been upheld at all subsequent state funerals. After Victoria's funeral, the Royal Navy retained the carriage; they may have refused to return it to the army. The navy was formally given the carriage by George V in 1910. The carriage has since been used at
378-492: The carriage, and 40 behind, braking, with 4 officers walking alongside the 40 brakers, 4 officers walking alongside the pullers, and 2 further officers leading the 138. After the service at the abbey the carriage was used again, attended by 137 naval ratings (one having fallen ill), to carry the coffin to Constitution Hill where it was transferred to the state hearse for its journey from Wellington Arch to St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for interment. This occasion marked
405-404: The carriage. The army officer in charge of X Battery at the funeral, Lieutenant M.L. Goldie, stated instead that an eye hole on the carriage splinter bar broke when his horses moved off. Confusion followed as various officers and officials attempted to exert control over the situation that prevented him from carrying out immediate repairs. The end result was that sailors of the Royal Navy pulled
432-589: The courts were amalgamated into the High Court of Justice , which continued to have chambers adjacent to Westminster Hall until moved to the then new Royal Courts of Justice building in 1882. In addition to regular courts, Westminster Hall also housed important state trials, including impeachment trials and the state trials of King Charles I at the end of the English Civil War , William Wallace , Thomas More , Cardinal John Fisher , Guy Fawkes ,
459-401: The details below. Request from 172.68.168.237 via cp1104 cp1104, Varnish XID 211848049 Upstream caches: cp1104 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 07:50:56 GMT Westminster Hall The fabric of the hall is particularly notable for its hammerbeam roof , a form typical of English Gothic architecture which uses horizontal trusses to span large distances. The roof
486-541: The events that followed. According to a naval observer, Lieutenant Percy Noble , the RHA's horses had not been exercised while awaiting the Royal Train's arrival and were unhappy when the coffin was placed on the carriage. They are said to have reared up and threatened to topple the coffin. Noble stated that Prince Louis of Battenberg asked the Royal Navy party commander, Lieutenant Algernon Boyle , for his sailors to pull
513-498: The first time in history that women of the Royal Navy were part of the gun carriage crew. A smaller gun carriage, called the Portsmouth Gun Carriage, is stored at HMS Collingwood , a shore establishment at Fareham in Hampshire, and has been used for eight ceremonial funerals of senior naval officers between 1935 and 1967. These include Earl Jellicoe , Earl Beatty , Sir Dudley Pound , and Viscount Cunningham . A plaque on
540-492: The funerals of Edward VII , George V , George VI , Sir Winston Churchill , Lord Mountbatten , and Elizabeth II . It is stored at the shore establishment HMS Excellent , near Portsmouth. The staff instructors' mess displays the ropes used at the funeral of Edward VII. In storage the carriage is moved slightly every seven days, to allow its wheels to turn by a quarter to prevent them from being deformed. The carriage, including its gun barrel, are regularly polished. The carriage
567-484: The hall was used for the lying in state of King Edward VII , followed by King George V in 1936, King George VI in 1952, Queen Mary in 1953, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in 2002, and Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. Around 250,000 mourners filed past the coffin when Queen Elizabeth II lay in state, which resulted in the delamination of the Yorkstone floor. The two Houses have presented ceremonial Addresses to
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#1732780255823594-515: The idea because he deemed it too expensive. Since the late 19th century, the Hall has been used as a place for lying in state during state and ceremonial funerals. Such an honour is usually reserved for the Sovereign and for their consorts; the only non-royals to receive it in the twentieth century were Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts (1914), the 48 victims of the crash of the airship R101 (1930) and Winston Churchill (1965). In 1910
621-597: The two main Chambers, in which the government and opposition benches directly face each other, the seating in the Grand Committee Room is laid out in a U-shape, a pattern meant to reflect the non-partisan nature of the debates there. The hall is notable for its hammerbeam roof , which was commissioned for Richard II in 1393. It was built by the royal carpenter, Hugh Herland , and is considered "the greatest creation of medieval timber architecture" creating
648-590: Was also alight, and smashed through a door to the Hall with an axe so hoses could be brought in. The St Stephen's Porch end of the Hall displays under the stained glass window the Parliamentary War Memorial listing on eight panels the names of Members and staff of both Houses of Parliament and their sons killed serving in the First World War; the window itself, installed in 1952, commemorates members and staff of both Houses who died in
675-472: Was commissioned for Richard II in 1393 and built by the royal carpenter, Hugh Herland . It is the largest clearspan medieval roof in England, measuring 20.7 by 73.2 metres (68 by 240 ft). At the same time the rest of the hall was remodelled by the master mason Henry Yevele . The renovations include eighty-three unique depictions of Richard's favourite heraldic badge, a resting chained white hart . Westminster Hall has served numerous functions. Until
702-477: Was the first US president to be invited to use the Hall for an address to Parliament and Aung San Suu Kyi was the first non-head of state to be given the accolade of addressing MPs and peers in Westminster Hall. Following reforms in 1999, the House of Commons now uses the Grand Committee Room next to Westminster Hall as an additional debating chamber. (Although it is not part of the main hall, these are usually spoken of as Westminster Hall debates .) In contrast with
729-637: Was used during the state funeral of Queen Victoria in 1901. In the days after Victoria's death the carriage was issued to the X Battery of the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA). It was to carry the Queen's coffin from Windsor railway station to Windsor Castle , where it would be interred in the adjacent Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore on 2 February. According to the Naval Historical Society of Australia there are two accounts of
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