Mr. Neutron, London's West End, and Westminster Abbey

Does anyone remember the Monty Python episode where Mr. Neutron - the strange super hero with his 'child bride' Mrs. S.C.U.M. - says, "I like this area. It's handy to the shops and convenient to the West End"? Well, I didn't know what he was talking about until I did some research. Greater London is a much bigger place than the original city. That is not difficult to understand as most cities grow. However, many important landmarks which we often think of as so obviously a part of London are not actually in "The City" but in the West End - what used to be the City of Westminster. Westminster Abbey, (the much newer - 1903) Catholic Westminster Cathderal, the Houses of Parliament, even Big Ben are in the West End. Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace are also in the West End. Such landmarks as London Bridge, The Tower, and St. Paul's cathedral are in "The City."

As you can see in the map above (c. 1300 AD), this is basically the city of London. The only bridge going across the Thames River at that time was "London Bridge" (which was evidently not falling down). Everything to the west would be Westminster (or the "West End" today). Notice the structure at the very bottom of the left hand side of the picture, where the Thames River goes North-South. That is Westminster Abbey which of course would have been there in 1300.

A little from Wikipedia on Westminster Abbey:

"In the 960s or early 970s Saint Dunstan, assisted by King Edgar, planted a community of Benedictine monks here. The stone Abbey was built around 1045–1050 by King Edward the Confessor and was later rebuilt again by Henry III in 1245, who had selected the site for his burial . . . Henry VIII had assumed direct royal control in 1539 and granted the Abbey cathedral status by charter in 1540, simultaneously issuing letters patent establishing the Diocese of Westminster. By granting the Abbey cathedral status Henry VIII gained an excuse to spare it from the destruction or dissolution which he inflicted on most English abbeys during this period. Westminster was a cathedral only until 1550. The expression "robbing Peter to pay Paul" may arise from this period when money meant for the Abbey, which was dedicated to St Peter, was diverted to the treasury of St Paul's Cathedral.

The Abbey was restored to the Benedictines under the Catholic Queen Mary, but they were again ejected under Queen Elizabeth I in 1559. In 1579, Elizabeth re-established Westminster as a "Royal Peculiar" — a church responsible directly to the sovereign, rather than to a diocesan bishop — and made it the Collegiate Church of St Peter, (that is a church with an attached chapter of canons, headed by a dean)."

Since 1066 Westminster has been the coronation site for most of the English monarchs. It today has a splendid choir of men and boys under the direction of James O'Donnell. I shall try to visit to experience them singing at Evensong on either Saturday July 19th or Monday July 21st.