Westminster

The Palace of Westminster, located on the North Bank of the River Thames in central London, is the meeting place for the two Houses of Parliament.  Although officially the palace is owned by the monarch it is effectively managed and inhabitants by the House of Commons and the House of Lords. 

As early as the Middle Ages the site of the current Palace of Westminster was deemed strategically important, mostly because of its location on the River Thames.  Its is believed that the area, known then as Thorney Island, was used as a royal residence by Canute the Great during his reign from 1016 to 1035.  The King of Denmark and Norway, Canute the Great ruled England for nineteen years.  He was fundamental in protecting England from Viking raiders, many of which he was believed to have commanded, so England was able to prosper.  

At the same time that Westminster Abbey was constructed St Edward the Confessor, among the last Anglo Saxon Kings of England,  was said to have built a palace on Thorney Island. His reign lasted from 1042 to 1066.  None of the building constructed as part of St Edward the Confessors' palace remain.  The oldest surviving parts of Westminster Palace, in particular Westminster Hall, are from the reign of King William II. The Hall was built in 1097 and was completed in two years.  It was the largest Hall in England and was so large smaller halls were required for normal use.  Westminster Palace served as the principal residence for Monarchs throughout the late medieval era.  

An early form of parliament started to meet in Westminster Palace in 1265.  The Curia Regis or the Royal Court, headed by Simon de Montforts, consisted of representatives from all the larger towns of England.  This Parliament, held by the rebel baron, Simon de Montfort, who had seized power over England from Henry III only lasted three months.  In an attempt to gather supporters de Montforts had decided to not only invite barons and knights to discussions but also burgesses, a freeman.  Although de Montfort was killed at the Battle of Evesham, the idea of inviting burgesses to parliament became popular under the reign of Henry's son Edward I.  

In 1512, a fire destroyed the principal residence of the monarch at Westminster Palace.  In 1534 Henry VIII aquired York Palace from Thomas Wolsey and renamed it Palace of Whitehall, using it as his primary residence.  Despite remaining an official palace, Westminister Oalace was only used by the two Houses of Parliament as well as The Royal Courts of Justice.  As the Palace had no purpose built rooms, important ceremonies where held on what was known as the Painted Chamber, which had been King Henry III's bedchamber.  A modest medieval hall known as the Queen's Chamber served as the meeting place for the House of Lords.  Without a specified meeting place the House of Commons often had meetings in the Chapter House of Westminister Abbey.  Eventually the Palace in St Stephens Chapel became a regular meeting place for The House of Commons.  

A new facade for the palace was designed and built by John Vardy in the Palladian architectural style between 1755 and 1770. This construction, known as the Stone Building, was primarily constructed to provide committee rooms and space for document storage. In 1795 a new residence for the Speaker of The House of Commons was built near St Stephen's Chapel.  Between 1799 and 1801 the architect James Wyatt created a much derided neo-Gothic building called The Cotton Mill.  Sir John Sloane, a British architect and a leader in the revival of Greek Revival Architecture.  He demolished the medieval House of Lords Chamber.  The Chamber had famously been the target of the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.  The plot was a failed assassination attempt against King James I by provincial English Catholics led by Richard Catesby.  The plot was revealed and famously Guy Fawkes was caught guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder.  In place of the demolished chamber Sloane created a new Royal Gallery.

Over the next three centuries many renovations would take place.  In the late 17th century, architect Christopher Wren undertook a major project completely redesigning the buildings.  In 1834 a huge fire, started by an overheating stove,  ravaged Westminster Palace.  It destroyed most of the rebuilt Houses of Parliament.  The only medieval structures to survive the fire were Westminister Hall, the Cloisters of St Stephen.  The Chapel of St Mary Undercroft, a crypt below St Stephens Chapel, used primarily as a wine cellar, dining room and a stable for Oliver Cromwell's horse survived even though St Stephen's Chapel did not. The fourteenth century Jewel Tower built between 1365 and 1366 as a personal treasury for the personal treasures of Edward III, also survived the fire. 

King William IV initially offered Buckingham Palace, a residence he didn't like very much, to parliament to use.  However Buckingham Palace was considered not suitable for the Houses of Parliament.  Leaving it to each House, the King left Parliament to create their own committee to best decide what they required.  In July 1835 a Royal Commission was appointed and by June 1835 it was decided that the new building would be built in Gothic or Elizabethan style.  A competition was proposed.  In February 1836, after considering 97 proposals, architect Charles Barry's Gothic style palace design won. Barry's design was Gothic Revival, specifically honouring the Perpendicular Gothic style, which emphasises perpendicular lines, of the 14th and 15th century. The interior was greatly influenced by Augustus Pugin, an authority on Gothic architectural style, in the gothic interior, stained glass, ironwork, furniture and wall paper.  The foundation stone was laid in 1840 with both Chambers completed by 1852 although some works still continued on into the 1870s.  Construction lasted for over thirty years due to rising costs and the death of two leading architects.   

During WWII the Palace of Westminster was bombed on fourteen occasions.  The worst hit was in May 1941 with the palace taking twelve hits resulting in three deaths.  The Clocktower, Elizabeth Tower, known as Big Ben took a hit and all the glass on the south dial was blown out but the bell and hands were undamaged.  The. Lock continued to keep time. 

Westminster Palace has been a Grade 1 listed building since 1970 and part of UNESCO World Heritage sites since 1987. In 2022 the building will be vacated for six years for new renovations. 

Guy Fawkes, caught during the failed Gunpowder Plot was hung, drawn and quartered for his part in the plot. His ghost has been seen wearing a traditional hat and cape wandering towards the place that would take him to the secret stash of explosives he was found guarding.  His ghost is then said to just vanish.  

There are at least two documented cases of doppelgänger in the palace.  A famous case occurred in 1905 when Major Sir Frederick Carne Rasch MP was seen in the Chambers when in fact he was at home in bed with the flu. Another suspected doppelgänger is a Mrs Millman,who worked as a clerk at the palace but was not at the palace on the occasions she was sighted there.