Restoration work has started on one of London’s most ancient buildings and home of the first Parliaments. The English Heritage project started its conservation this week (Jan 13th) on the weathered exterior of Westminster Abbey’s Chapter House. The repairs on the Chapter House, which dates from the 12th century and held the King’s Great Council in 1257, are to be completed by 2010. Tim Reeve, Properties Director for English Heritage, said: ‘The Chapter House is a building of international importance and sits at the heart not just of Westminster Abbey but of the Westminster World Heritage Site, one of the most visited places on earth.’ Barry Stow, of project leaders Stow and Beale Conservation Architects, said: ‘The early Chapter House was reportedly 'finer than Salisbury'. In mediaeval times it was used as a place of government, as a meeting place for the House of Commons and subsequently as a document archive.’
See the History Today articles Westminster 1585 and The Cult of St Edward the Confessor.
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