Please join Blue Badge Guide, Simon Whitehouse, for an intimate small group tour of Westminster Abbey to learn about its thousand-year history, from monastic origins to its current stately role as the ‘Royal’ church. Westminster Abbey has been the venue for every Coronation Ceremony since 1066.

The Abbey is the resting place of thirty kings and queens who are buried here and our tour specifically focuses on the tombs of Henry VII, Queen Elizabeth I and her rival, Mary Queen of Scots. We also visit the memorials of great British figures including Sir Isaac Newton, George Frideric Handel, Geoffrey Chaucer and Charles Dickens.

  Throughout the tour we will appreciate the magnificent Gothic art and architecture of the Abbey including the beautiful mosaic Cosmati pavement and the breathtaking ceiling of the Henry VII chapel- one of the true wonders of the world.

At the end of our tour we visit the fabulous Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries that were opened in June 2018. The thirteenth-century Triforium, high above the abbey, had been hidden from public view for over 700 years but it now contains a fabulous display of the Abbey’s greatest treasures. Simon will talk about highlights in the collection. An additional treat is that as you walk up to the Triforium, via the Weston Tower, you will catch amazing views of the Palace of Westminster and the medieval Chapter House.

(Please note: there is a lift for those not wanting to walk up the Weston Tower to the Triforium and if the cafe is open when we finish we can have a cup of tea/coffee to finish off the afternoon)

* All tours are subject to change depending on covid restrictions and venues’ rules and availability.

Image credit: Main altar Westminster Abbey/ St George’s Chapel ceiling detail c. J Rennocks – all Public Domain