90-636: Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster , Central London , England. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea . It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Square . The street is recognised as the centre of the Government of the United Kingdom and is lined with numerous departments and ministries, including
180-541: A Westminster parliamentary borough (constituency). The Anglican Diocese of Westminster was short-lived, being absorbed back into the Diocese of London in 1550. Despite having no borough corporation and having ceased to be the seat of a diocese, Westminster continued to be described as a city. In 1585 the Westminster Court of Burgesses was established to administer certain judicial powers in an area known as
270-596: A portcullis as the main charge, which now forms the crest . The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the City of Westminster. Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser ( / ˈ s p ɛ n s ər / ; born 1552 or 1553; died 13 January O.S. 1599) was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene , an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I . He
360-488: A Catholic church full of corruption, and he determined that it was not only the wrong religion but the anti-religion. This sentiment is an important backdrop for the battles of The Faerie Queene . Spenser was called "the Poet's Poet" by Charles Lamb, and was admired by John Milton , William Blake , William Wordsworth , John Keats , Lord Byron , Alfred Tennyson and others. Among his contemporaries Walter Raleigh wrote
450-652: A bomb in front of the Ministry of Agriculture building in Whitehall, injuring a number of bystanders. On 7 February 1991, the IRA launched a mortar attack on 10 Downing Street in an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Prime Minister John Major and his cabinet. By the time the palace was destroyed, separation of crown and state had become important, with Parliament being necessary to control military requirements and pass laws. The government wanted to be some distance from
540-628: A car or van, 6.0%; work mainly at or from home, 5.5%; bicycle, 3.1%; train, 3.0%. Westminster Children's Services administers many primary and secondary schools. In addition, there are several state-funded faith schools, primarily Church of England (CE), and Roman Catholic (RC), but Christian non-denominational (ND) schools are also in the borough, and there are several non-profit-making junior and senior independent schools . The city operates two reference libraries; Westminster Reference Library and Marylebone Information Service. Westminster Reference Library holds several special collections: of which
630-515: A commendatory poem to The Faerie Queene in 1590 in which he claims to admire and value Spenser's work more so than any other in the English language. John Milton in his Areopagitica mentions "our sage and serious poet Spenser, whom I dare be known to think a better teacher than Scotus or Aquinas ". In the 18th century, Alexander Pope compared Spenser to "a mistress, whose faults we see, but love her with them all". In his work A View of
720-463: A completely allegorical context, the poem follows several knights in an examination of several virtues. In Spenser's "A Letter of the Authors", he states that the entire epic poem is "cloudily enwrapped in allegorical devises", and that the aim behind The Faerie Queene was to "fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline". Spenser published numerous relatively short poems in
810-554: A life pension of £50 a year from the Queen. He probably hoped to secure a place at court through his poetry, but his next significant publication boldly antagonised the queen's principal secretary, Lord Burghley (William Cecil) , through its inclusion of the satirical Mother Hubberd's Tale . He returned to Ireland. He was at the centre of a literary circle whose members included his lifelong friend Lodowick Bryskett and Dr. John Longe , Archbishop of Armagh . In 1591, Spenser published
900-433: A number of major parks and open spaces , including Hyde Park , and most of Regent's Park . Away from central London the borough also includes various inner suburbs, including St John's Wood , Maida Vale , Bayswater , Belgravia and Pimlico . The borough had a population of 204,300 at the 2021 census. The original settlement of Westminster was historically a separate urban area to the west of London, growing up around
990-606: A refurbishment and modernisation programme. Statues and memorials have been built on and around Whitehall, commemorating military victories and leaders. The Cenotaph was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and erected at the southern end in 1919, commemorating victory in World War I and later used as a memorial for both World Wars. It is the main war memorial in Britain and an annual service is held here on Remembrance Sunday , led by
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#17327574082671080-536: A residential street by the 16th century, and had become a popular place to live by the 17th, with residents including Lord Howard of Effingham and Edmund Spenser . The Palace of Whitehall, to the east of the road, was originally named York Palace, but was renamed during the reign of Henry VIII . The palace was redesigned in 1531–32 and became the King's main residence later in the decade. He married Anne Boleyn here in 1533, followed by Jane Seymour in 1536, and died at
1170-573: A route connecting Charing Cross to Westminster since the Middle Ages ; the 12th-century historian William Fitzstephen described it as "a continued suburb, mingled with large and beautiful gardens, and orchards belonging to the citizens". The name Whitehall was originally only used for the section of road between Charing Cross and Holbein Gate ; beyond this it was known as The Street as far as King Street Gate , then King Street thereafter. It had become
1260-531: A row of houses along the street around 1680 leading west from Whitehall. Following a number of terrorist attacks, the road was closed to the public in 1990, when security gates were erected at both ends. On 7 February 1991, the Provisional IRA fired mortars from a van parked in Whitehall towards No. 10 , one of which exploded in the gardens. Additional security measures have been put in place along Whitehall to protect government buildings, following
1350-469: A series of bombings by Irish Nationalists in 1883, and an explosion from a Fenian terrorist attack on 30 May 1884 blew a hole in Scotland Yard's outer wall and destroyed the neighbouring Rising Sun pub. The headquarters was moved away from Whitehall in 1890. Downing Street leads off the south-west end of Whitehall, just above Parliament Street. It was named after Sir George Downing , who built
1440-458: A translation in verse of Joachim Du Bellay 's sonnets, Les Antiquités de Rome , which had been published in 1558. Spenser's version, Ruines of Rome: by Bellay , may also have been influenced by Latin poems on the same subject, written by Jean or Janis Vitalis and published in 1576. By 1594, Spenser's first wife had died, and in that year he married a much younger Elizabeth Boyle, a relative of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork . He addressed to her
1530-415: A tree, locally known as "Spenser's Oak" until it was destroyed in a lightning strike in the 1960s. Local legend claims that he penned some of The Faerie Queene under this tree. In 1590, Spenser brought out the first three books of his most famous work, The Faerie Queene , having travelled to London to publish and promote the work, with the likely assistance of Raleigh. He was successful enough to obtain
1620-404: A woman. Epithalamion , similar to Amoretti , deals in part with the unease in the development of a romantic and sexual relationship. It was written for his wedding to his young bride, Elizabeth Boyle. Some have speculated that the attention to disquiet, in general, reflects Spenser's personal anxieties at the time, as he was unable to complete his most significant work, The Faerie Queene . In
1710-528: A young boy, he was educated in London at the Merchant Taylors' School and matriculated as a sizar at Pembroke College, Cambridge . While at Cambridge he became a friend of Gabriel Harvey and later consulted him, despite their differing views on poetry. In 1578, he became for a short time secretary to John Young , Bishop of Rochester. In 1579, he published The Shepheardes Calender and around
1800-516: A £25 million streetscape project undertaken by Westminster City Council . The project has provided wider pavements and better lighting, along with installing hundreds of concrete and steel security barriers. Richmond House , at No. 79, has held the Department of Health since 1987. The building is scheduled to be a temporary debating chamber from 2025, while the Houses of Parliament undergo
1890-527: Is Westminster City Council . To the east, Westminster borders the City of London , with the boundary marked by Temple Bar . Other neighbouring boroughs (anti-clockwise from north-east) are Camden , Brent , Kensington and Chelsea , Wandsworth and Lambeth , the latter two being separated from Westminster by the River Thames . Charing Cross in Westminster is the notional centre of London, being
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#17327574082671980-533: Is an inexhaustible source of beauty and order. In this Sonnet, the poet expresses his idea of true beauty. The physical beauty will finish after a few days; it is not a permanent beauty. He emphasises beauty of mind and beauty of intellect. He considers his beloved is not simply flesh but is also a spiritual being. The poet opines that he is beloved born of heavenly seed and she is derived from fair spirit. The poet states that because of her clean mind, pure heart and sharp intellect, men call her fair and she deserves it. At
2070-454: Is at 14 St James's Square . Many countries' embassies or High Commissions are in Westminster. The current Westminster coat of arms was given by an official grant on 2 September 1964. Westminster had other arms before, which had a chief identical to the chief in the present arms. The symbols in the lower two thirds of the shield stand for former municipalities now merged with the city, Paddington and St Marylebone. The original arms had
2160-458: Is marked with "SMF" and "StMW", and denotes the boundary between St Martin-in-the-Fields and St Margaret's church parish boundaries. During the 19th century, as private leases ran out on residential buildings, ownership reverted to the Crown, which began to use them as public offices. The name "Whitehall" is now used as a metonym to refer to that part of the civil service which is involved in
2250-558: Is one of three purple squares on the British Monopoly board, along with Pall Mall and Northumberland Avenue . All three streets converge at Trafalgar Square. Notes Citations Sources Further reading City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a London borough with city status in Greater London , England. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of
2340-545: Is purposely archaic, reminiscent of earlier works such as The Canterbury Tales of Geoffrey Chaucer and Il Canzoniere of Petrarch , whom Spenser greatly admired. An Anglican and a devotee of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth, Spenser was particularly offended by the anti-Elizabethan propaganda that some Catholics circulated. Like most Protestants near the time of the Reformation, Spenser saw
2430-463: Is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of nascent Modern English verse, and he is considered one of the great poets in the English language. Edmund Spenser was born in East Smithfield , London, around the year 1552; however, there is still some ambiguity as to the exact date of his birth. His parenthood is obscure, but he was probably the son of John Spenser, a journeyman clothmaker. As
2520-584: Is to the south of this, on Horse Guards Avenue to the east of Whitehall. Whitehall is also home to six other monuments. From north to south, these are of Prince George, Duke of Cambridge ( Commander-in-Chief of the British Army ), Liberal Party , Liberal Unionist Party and Unionists leader Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire , Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig (known as the Earl Haig Memorial ), Field Marshal Montgomery (commander of
2610-475: The 8th Army , the 21st Army Group and Chief of the Imperial General Staff ), William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim , Commander of the 14th Army and Governor-General of Australia , and Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke , Chief of the Imperial General Staff . The Whitehall Theatre opened in 1930 at the north west end of the street, on a site that had previously been Ye Old Ship Tavern in
2700-514: The Banqueting House has survived. Whitehall was originally a wide road that led to the gates of the palace; the route to the south was widened in the 18th century, following the destruction of the palace, and the area was largely rebuilt for government offices. As well as government buildings, the street is known for its memorial statues and monuments, including the UK's primary war memorial,
2790-568: The British government . It contains a large part of central London , including most of the West End , such as the major shopping areas around Oxford Street , Regent Street , Piccadilly and Bond Street , and the entertainment district of Soho . Many London landmarks are within the borough, including Buckingham Palace , Westminster Abbey , Whitehall , Westminster Cathedral , 10 Downing Street , and Trafalgar Square . The borough also has
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2880-597: The Cabinet Office , and the Department of Health . It ends at the Cenotaph , the road ahead being Parliament Street. Great Scotland Yard and Horse Guards Avenue branch off to the east, while Downing Street branches off to the west at the southern section of the street. The nearest tube stations are Charing Cross at the north end, and Westminster at the south. Numerous London bus routes run along Whitehall, including 12, 24, 88, 159 and 453. There has been
2970-603: The City and Liberty of Westminster . From 1856 the area was also governed by the Metropolitan Board of Works , which was established to provide services across the metropolis of London. In 1889 the Metropolitan Board of Works' area was made the County of London . From 1856 until 1900 the lower tier of local government within the metropolis comprised various parish vestries and district boards . Within
3060-884: The Department for International Development at No. 22, the Department of Energy and Climate Change at No. 55, the Old War Office , the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel at No. 36, the Horse Guards , the Ministry of Defence Main Building , Dover House (containing the Scotland Office ), Gwydyr House (containing the Wales Office ), the Cabinet Office at No. 70,
3150-775: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Government Offices Great George Street ( HM Treasury , HM Revenue and Customs and parts of the Cabinet Office). Scotland Yard , the headquarters of London's Metropolitan Police Service , was originally located in Great Scotland Yard off the north-eastern end of Whitehall. The buildings had been lodgings for the Kings of Scotland, on part of the old Palace of Whitehall's grounds; by
3240-649: The London Assembly , the borough forms part of the West Central constituency. The following table shows the ethnic group of respondents in the 1991 to 2021 censuses in Westminster. The borough ranks highest on one standard criteria in analysing housing supply and demand, the proportion of private rented accommodation relative to other types of housing in England. A study in 2017 by Trust for London and The New Policy Institute found that Westminster has
3330-634: The Metropolitan Borough of Paddington , and the parish of the St Marylebone became the Metropolitan Borough of St Marylebone . The various territories within the old City and Liberty of Westminster became the Metropolitan Borough of Westminster . The new boroughs came into being on 1 November 1900; a few days ahead of that a royal charter was issued conferring city status on the new borough of Westminster from its creation. The Court of Burgesses, which had ceded most practical powers to
3420-456: The Ministry of Defence , Horse Guards and the Cabinet Office . Consequently, the name "Whitehall" is used as a metonym for the British civil service and government , and as the geographic name for the surrounding area. The Palace of Whitehall previously occupied the area and was the residence of Kings Henry VIII through to William III , before it was destroyed by fire in 1698; only
3510-615: The Munster Plantation . Raleigh acquired other nearby Munster estates confiscated in the Second Desmond Rebellion . Sometime between 1587 and 1589, Spenser acquired his main estate at Kilcolman , near Doneraile in North Cork. He later bought a second holding to the south, at Rennie, on a rock overlooking the river Blackwater in North Cork. Its ruins are still visible today. A short distance away grew
3600-533: The epic poem The Faerie Queene . The first three books of The Faerie Queene were published in 1590, and the second set of three books was published in 1596. Spenser originally indicated that he intended the poem to consist of twelve books, so the version of the poem we have today is incomplete. Despite this, it remains one of the longest poems in the English language. It is an allegorical work, and can be read (as Spenser presumably intended) on several levels of allegory, including as praise of Queen Elizabeth I . In
3690-670: The government of the United Kingdom . The street's central portion is dominated by military buildings, including the Ministry of Defence , with the former headquarters of the British Army and Royal Navy , the Royal United Services Institute , the Horse Guards building and the Admiralty , on the opposite side. Government buildings on Whitehall, from north to south, include The Admiralty Buildings,
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3780-472: The minster church of Westminster Abbey. Westminster was an important centre of royal authority from Saxon times, and was declared a city in 1540. It was gradually absorbed into the urban area of London, but London's official city boundaries remained unchanged, covering just the area called the City of London , broadly corresponding to the medieval walled city. From the 19th century some metropolis -wide administrative bodies were introduced. The County of London
3870-404: The 17th century. The revue Whitehall Follies opened in 1942, which drew controversy over its explicit content featuring the stripper and actress Phyllis Dixey . The theatre became known for its series of farces , reviving a tradition on Whitehall that had begun with court jesters at the palace during the 16th century; these included several plays featuring actor-manager Brian Rix throughout
3960-558: The 1950s and '60s, and 1981's satirical Anyone for Denis , written by John Wells and Private Eye editor Richard Ingrams . The venue was Grade II listed in 1996 and renamed the Trafalgar Studios in 2004. Because of its importance as the centre of the British government, several political comedies are based in and around Whitehall. These include the BBC television series Yes Minister and The Thick of It . Whitehall
4050-523: The 19th century, Little and Middle Scotland Yard had been merged into Whitehall Place, leaving only Great Scotland Yard. No. 4 Whitehall Place had become vacant by the 1820s, which allowed Sir Robert Peel to use it as the main headquarters when forming the police in 1829. It was formally named the Metropolitan Police Office, but became quickly known as Great Scotland Yard, and eventually Scotland Yard. The buildings were damaged in
4140-557: The Cenotaph . South of the Cenotaph the thoroughfare becomes Parliament Street. The Whitehall Theatre (now the Trafalgar Studios ) was formerly associated with a series of farces . The name Whitehall was used for several buildings in the Tudor period . It either referred to a building made of light stone, or as a general term for any festival building. This included the Royal Palace of Whitehall , which in turn gave its name to
4230-535: The City and Liberty of Westminster, the three parishes of St George Hanover Square , St James Piccadilly and St Martin-in-the-Fields were governed by their vestries , whilst the parishes covering the central part of Westminster formed the Westminster District and the parishes and territories adjoining the border with the City of London formed the Strand District . Beyond the liberty to
4320-510: The City of Westminster. Mayfair and St James's within the City of Westminster also have a large concentration of hedge fund and private equity funds. The West End is known as the Theatre District and is home to many of the leading performing arts businesses. Soho and its adjoining areas house a concentration of media and creative companies. Oxford Street is a busy shopping destination. The City of Westminster contains some of
4410-533: The English until its indigenous language and customs had been destroyed, if necessary by violence. In 1598, during the Nine Years' War , Spenser was driven from his home by the native Irish forces of Aodh Ó Néill . His castle at Kilcolman was burned, and Ben Jonson , who may have had private information, asserted that one of his infant children died in the blaze. In the year after being driven from his home, 1599, Spenser travelled to London, where he died at
4500-562: The Irish people. A particular legal punishment viewed with distaste by Spenser was the Brehon method of dealing with murder , which was to impose an éraic (fine) on the murderer's family. From Spenser's viewpoint, the appropriate punishment for murder was capital punishment . Spenser also warned of the dangers that allowing the education of children in the Irish language would bring: "Soe that
4590-465: The Present State of Irelande (1596), Spenser discussed future plans to establish control over Ireland , the most recent Irish uprising, led by Hugh O'Neill having demonstrated the futility of previous efforts. The work is partly a defence of Lord Arthur Grey de Wilton , who was appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1580, and who greatly influenced Spenser's thinking on Ireland. The goal of
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#17327574082674680-864: The Sherlock Holmes, Arts and Business collections are the most comprehensive. In addition to the collections in Westminster Reference Library the city has two specialist libraries: the Westminster Music Library , the largest music library in the UK and the Westminster Chinese Library in the Charing Cross Library. Free City of Westminster operated public lending libraries in Westminster include: The London Library , an independent lending library funded by subscription,
4770-531: The South Coast including Clapham Junction , Sutton , Brighton , Eastbourne , Gatwick Airport ( [REDACTED] ), Guildford , Portsmouth , and Southampton . Services operated by Southern . Gatwick Airport [REDACTED] Services operated by Gatwick Express . The City of Westminster is served by 27 London Underground stations and 10 of the 11 lines. By 2009 Westminster City Council had electric vehicle charging points in 15 locations through
4860-612: The Travers family, and her descendants were prominent landowners in Cork for centuries. Thomas Fuller , in Worthies of England , included a story where the Queen told her treasurer, William Cecil, to pay Spenser £100 for his poetry. The treasurer, however, objected that the sum was too much. She said, "Then give him what is reason". Without receiving his payment in due time, Spenser gave the Queen this quatrain on one of her progresses: I
4950-481: The abbey and the river he built a palace, thereby guaranteeing that the seat of Government would be fixed at Westminster, and inevitably drawing power and wealth west out of the old City of London. For centuries Westminster and the City of London were geographically quite distinct. It was not until the sixteenth century that houses began to be built over the adjoining fields, eventually absorbing nearby villages such as Marylebone and Kensington , and gradually creating
5040-640: The age of forty-six – "for want of bread", according to Ben Jonson ; one of Jonson's more doubtful statements, since Spenser had a payment to him authorised by the government and was due his pension. His coffin was carried to his grave, deliberately near that of Geoffrey Chaucer , in what became known as Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey by other poets, probably including Shakespeare , who threw many pens and pieces of poetry into his grave. His second wife survived him and remarried twice. His sister Sarah, who had accompanied him to Ireland, married into
5130-443: The carrions, happye wheare they could find them, yea, and one another soone after, in soe much as the verye carcasses they spared not to scrape out of theire graves; and if they found a plott of water-cresses or shamrockes, theyr they flocked as to a feast… in a shorte space there were none almost left, and a most populous and plentyfull countrye suddenly lefte voyde of man or beast: yett sure in all that warr, there perished not manye by
5220-410: The city (13 car parks and two on-street points). Users pay an annual fee to cover administration costs to register and use the points. By 2018 there were 60 electric vehicle charging locations. In March 2011, the main forms of transport that residents used to travel to work were: underground, metro, light rail, tram, 21.0% of all residents aged 16–74; on foot, 9.3%; bus, minibus or coach, 9.3%; driving
5310-822: The crosses. These include Green Park , Hyde Park , Kensington Gardens , Regent's Park and St James's Park . In addition to parks and open spaces within the borough, the City owns and maintains East Finchley Cemetery and crematorium in the London Borough of Barnet . Four National Rail stations serve the City of Westminster: [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Heathrow Airport [REDACTED] Services operated by Heathrow Express and Elizabeth line ( [REDACTED] ) . [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] South London, Sussex and
5400-400: The diocese was abolished in 1550. The area was historically part of the county of Middlesex . Whilst an important centre of royal authority from Saxon times, Westminster was not formally incorporated as a borough for local government purposes until 1900. However, it was declared a city in 1540 on the elevation of Westminster Abbey to being a cathedral . From at least 1545 there was also
5490-551: The edge of urban London, in an attempt to escape. The King and court temporarily moved to Oxford to avoid the plague, while Samuel Pepys remarked in his diary on 29 June, "By water to Whitehall, where the Court is full of waggons and people ready to go out of town. This end of town every day grows very bad with plague". By the 18th century, traffic was struggling along the narrow streets south of Holbein Gate, which led to King Street Gate being demolished in 1723. Holbein Gate, in turn,
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#17327574082675580-571: The end, the poet praises her spiritual beauty and he worships her because of her Divine Soul. Though Spenser was well-read in classical literature, scholars have noted that his poetry does not rehash tradition, but rather is distinctly his. This individuality may have resulted, to some extent, from a lack of comprehension of the classics. Spenser strove to emulate such ancient Roman poets as Virgil and Ovid , whom he studied during his schooling, but many of his best-known works are notably divergent from those of his predecessors. The language of his poetry
5670-486: The following year, Spenser released Prothalamion , a wedding song written for the daughters of a duke, allegedly in hopes to gain favour in the court. Spenser used a distinctive verse form, called the Spenserian stanza , in several works, including The Faerie Queene . The stanza's main metre is iambic pentameter with a final line in iambic hexameter (having six feet or stresses, known as an Alexandrine ), and
5760-472: The house's site. Banqueting House was built as an extension to the Palace of Whitehall in 1622 by Inigo Jones . It is the only surviving portion of the palace after it was burned down, and was the first Renaissance building in London. It later became a museum to the Royal United Services Institute and has been opened to the public since 1963. Oliver Cromwell moved to the street in 1647, taking up residence in Wallingford House. Two years later, Charles I
5850-496: The last decade of the 16th century, almost all of which consider love or sorrow. In 1591, he published Complaints , a collection of poems that express complaints in mournful or mocking tones. Four years later, in 1595, Spenser published Amoretti and Epithalamion . This volume contains eighty-eight sonnets commemorating his courtship of Elizabeth Boyle. In Amoretti , Spenser uses subtle humour and parody while praising his beloved, reworking Petrarchism in his treatment of longing for
5940-508: The monarch, and the buildings around Whitehall, physically separated from St James's Palace by St James's Park , seemed to be a good place for ministers to work. The Horse Guards building was designed by William Kent , and built during the 1750s on a former tiltyard site, replacing an earlier guard-house erected during the Civil War. The building includes an archway for coach traffic and two pedestrian arches that provide access between Whitehall and Horse Guards Parade . The central archway
6030-399: The months together form an entire year, each month stands alone as a separate poem. Editions of the late 16th and early 17th centuries include woodcuts for each month/poem, and thereby have a slight similarity to an emblem book which combines a number of self-contained pictures and texts, usually a short vignette, saying, or allegory with an accompanying illustration. Spenser's masterpiece is
6120-430: The most famous sites in London, including Buckingham Palace , Westminster Abbey , the Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament) and Big Ben . Charing Cross is the notional centre of London and the location where distances from London are measured. This custom appears to have begun with the set distances of the 12 Eleanor crosses to Lincoln, England in the north, and expanded even after destruction of most of
6210-601: The newer authorities, was finally abolished in 1901. The modern borough was created in 1965 under the London Government Act 1963 . It was a merger of the old Paddington, St Marylebone and Westminster metropolitan boroughs, and Westminster's city status was transferred to the enlarged borough. In 1966 the city was granted the right to appoint a lord mayor . The local authority is Westminster City Council, which meets at Westminster Council House (also known as Marylebone Town Hall ) and has its main offices at Westminster City Hall on Victoria Street. Since 2000, for elections to
6300-415: The north, the two parishes of Paddington and St Marylebone were also governed by their vestries. The Westminster District was renamed the St Margaret and St John Combined Vestry in 1887, and unsuccessfully petitioned to be incorporated as a borough in 1897. In 1900 the lower tier of local government within the County of London was reorganised into metropolitan boroughs . The parish of Paddington became
6390-456: The palace in 1547. Charles I owned an extensive art collection at the palace and several of William Shakespeare 's plays had their first performances here. It ceased to be the royal residence after 1689, when William III moved to Kensington Palace for his health to escape what had become dense urban surroundings. The palace was damaged by fire in 1691, following which the front entrance was redesigned by Sir Christopher Wren . In 1698, most of
6480-546: The piece was to show that Ireland was in great need of reform. Spenser believed that "Ireland is a diseased portion of the State, it must first be cured and reformed, before it could be in a position to appreciate the good sound laws and blessings of the nation". In A View of the Present State of Ireland , Spenser categorises the "evils" of the Irish people into three prominent categories: laws, customs and religion. According to Spenser, these three elements worked together in creating
6570-465: The point from which distances from London are measured. After the depopulation of Roman London in the 5th century, an Anglo Saxon agricultural and trade settlement likely developed to its west, associated with the Middle Saxons , sometimes called Lundenwic ('London village' or London port'). Over time, Lundenburh ('London fort'), the former Roman city with its still-existing Roman walls,
6660-514: The reigning monarch and leading politicians. In 2005, a national Monument to the Women of World War II was erected a short distance north of the Cenotaph in the middle of the Whitehall carriageway. The Royal Tank Regiment Memorial is at the north east end of Whitehall, where Whitehall Court meets Whitehall Place. Erected in 2000, it commemorates the use of tanks in both World Wars and depicts five World War II tank crew members. The Gurkha Memorial
6750-483: The rhyme scheme is ababbcbcc. He also used his own rhyme scheme for the sonnet. In a Spenserian sonnet, the last line of every quatrain is linked with the first line of the next one, yielding the rhyme scheme ababbcbccdcdee. "Men Call you Fayre" is a fine Sonnet from Amoretti. The poet presents the concept of true beauty in the poem. He addresses the sonnet to his beloved, Elizabeth Boyle, and presents his courtship. Like all Renaissance men, Edmund Spenser believed that love
6840-562: The same time married his first wife, Machabyas Childe. They had two children, Sylvanus (d. 1638) and Katherine. In July 1580, Spenser went to Ireland in service of the newly appointed Lord Deputy , Arthur Grey, 14th Baron Grey de Wilton . Spenser served under Lord Grey with Walter Raleigh at the Siege of Smerwick massacre. When Lord Grey was recalled to England, Spenser stayed on in Ireland, having acquired other official posts and lands in
6930-565: The sonnet sequence Amoretti . The marriage was celebrated in Epithalamion . They had a son named Peregrine. In 1596, Spenser wrote a prose pamphlet titled A View of the Present State of Irelande . This piece, in the form of a dialogue, circulated in manuscript, remaining unpublished until the mid-17th century. It is probable that it was kept out of print during the author's lifetime because of its inflammatory content. The pamphlet argued that Ireland would never be totally "pacified" by
7020-471: The speach being Irish, the hart must needes be Irishe; for out of the aboundance of the hart, the tonge speaketh". He pressed for a scorched earth policy in Ireland, noting its effectiveness in the Second Desmond Rebellion : "'Out of everye corner of the woode and glenns they came creepinge forth upon theire handes, for theire legges could not beare them; they looked Anatomies [of] death, they spake like ghostes, crying out of theire graves; they did eate of
7110-470: The street. The street is about 0.4 miles (0.64 km) long and runs through the City of Westminster . It is part of the A3212 , a main road in Central London that leads towards Chelsea via the Houses of Parliament and Vauxhall Bridge . It runs south from Trafalgar Square , past numerous government buildings, including the old War Office building, Horse Guards , the Ministry of Defence ,
7200-400: The supposedly "disruptive and degraded people" who inhabited the country. One example given in the work is the Irish law system termed " Brehon law ", which at the time trumped the established law as dictated by the Crown . The Brehon system had its own court and methods of punishing infractions committed. Spenser viewed this system as a backward custom which contributed to the "degradation" of
7290-499: The sworde, but all by the extreamytie of famine ... they themselves had wrought.'" 1569: 1579: 1590: 1591: 1592: 1595: 1596: Posthumous: Washington University in St. Louis professor Joseph Lowenstein, with the assistance of several undergraduate students, has been involved in creating, editing, and annotating a digital archive of the first publication of poet Edmund Spenser's collective works in 100 years. A large grant from
7380-419: The third-highest pay inequality of the 32 London boroughs. It also has the second-least affordable private rent for low earners in London, behind only Kensington and Chelsea . In education, 82% of adults and 69% of 19-year-olds having Level 3 qualifications. The City of Westminster covers all or part of the following areas of London : Many global corporations have their global or European headquarters in
7470-418: The vast Greater London that exists today. Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries abolished the abbey at Westminster, although the former abbey church is still called Westminster Abbey . The church was briefly the cathedral of the Diocese of Westminster created from part of the Diocese of London in 1540, by letters patent which also granted city status to Westminster, a status retained after
7560-421: The vast palace burned to the ground accidentally after a fire started by a careless washerwoman. Wallingford House was constructed in 1572 by William Knollys, 1st Earl of Banbury along the western edge of Whitehall. The Duke of Buckingham bought the house in 1622, and it was subsequently used by Charles I. During the reign of William III, it was bought for the Admiralty . The Old Admiralty Buildings now sit on
7650-520: Was carried through Whitehall on the way to his trial at Westminster Hall . Whitehall itself was a wide street and had sufficient space for a scaffold to be erected for the King's execution at Banqueting House. He made a brief speech there before being beheaded. Cromwell died at the Palace of Whitehall in 1658. During the Great Plague of London in 1665, people boarded coaches at Whitehall, then at
7740-559: Was created in 1889, replaced in 1965 by the larger administrative area of Greater London , which since 2000 has been led by the Mayor of London . The cities of London and Westminster retain their separate city statuses despite having long been part of the same urban area. The modern borough was created in 1965 as part of the same reforms which created Greater London, covering the area of the three former metropolitan boroughs of Westminster , Paddington and St Marylebone . The local authority
7830-513: Was demolished in 1759. Meanwhile, Parliament Street was a side road alongside the palace, leading to the Palace of Westminster . After the Palace of Whitehall was destroyed, Parliament Street was widened to match Whitehall's width. The present appearance of the street dates from 1899 after a group of houses between Downing Street and Great George Street were destroyed. On 8 March 1973, the IRA detonated
7920-482: Was due as the pension was being collected for him by his publisher, Ponsonby. The Shepheardes Calender is Edmund Spenser's first major work, which appeared in 1579. It emulates Virgil 's Eclogues of the first century BCE and the Eclogues of Mantuan by Baptista Mantuanus , a late medieval, early renaissance poet. An eclogue is a short pastoral poem that is in the form of a dialogue or soliloquy. Although all
8010-466: Was promis'd on a time, To have a reason for my rhyme: From that time unto this season, I receiv'd nor rhyme nor reason. She immediately ordered the treasurer to pay Spenser the original £100. This story seems to have attached itself to Spenser from Thomas Churchyard , who apparently had difficulty in getting payment of his pension, the only other pension Elizabeth awarded to a poet. Spenser seems to have had no difficulty in receiving payment when it
8100-531: Was repopulated and Lundenwic declined, becoming pastoral and partly known as Aldwych (Aldwic—'old village'), the name of which lives on for a section of Westminster. The origins of the City of Westminster pre-date the Norman Conquest of England. In the mid-11th century, King Edward the Confessor began the construction of an abbey at Westminster, only the foundations of which survive today. Between
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