SHRINE OF EMPIRE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 54, Issue 3899, 10 May 1937, Page 12 (Supplement)

SHRINE OF EMPIRE

WESTMINSTER ABBEY Westminster Abbey, where the Coronation of the King and Queen will take place is the most celebrated church in British history. Not only has the abbey been the burial place of many of England’s Sovereigns, but burial there is one of the honours England bestows upon her most illustrious subjects. Round the shrine of Edward the Confessor are the tombs of the various kings and queens. The north transept contains many monuments to statesmen, and the abbey is crowded with tombs and memorials of famous British people. In the south transept, near the rest-ing-place of famous men of letters, is the poet’s corner. The burial of the Unknown Warrior in the centre of the nave after the Great War is a notable commemoration of the sacrifice made by the people in that war. The venerable abbey has witnessed many a brilliant coronation scene—from William the Conqueror onward every sovereign except Edward V and Edward VIII had been crowned there. In the chapel of Edward the Confessor still stands the coronation chair containing beneath its seat the Stone of Scone brought from Scotland, which tradition says was the stone Jacob used for a pillow at Bethel. Westminster Abbey was a Benedictine foundation. In 1050-65 Edward the Confessor built a church on the present site, dedicating it to St. Peter. This was reconstructed in the thirteenth century, and later many additions were made. The official name of the abbey is the Collegiate Church of St. Peter. Among many of England’s famous sons represented by tomb or other memorial in the abbey are Milton, Coleridge, Burns, Samuel Johnson, Macaulay, Dickens, Livingstone, Darwin, Sir Isaac Newton, Pitt, Fox, Gladstone and Disraeli.