Westminster Abbey was such a cool excursion! We were led around by a Blue Badge tour guide named Molly. In order to become a Blue Badge, these tour guides have to train intensively for two years then pass a series of exams to prove that they have the knowledge base necessary to guide all around London and several other places within a day’s travel (such as Bath, Oxford, and Hampton Court Palace). Needless to say, it was incredibly educational!
We started in the oldest part of the abbey, built about 1000 years ago. This is where the monks resided and where abbey officials still live to this day! There were names carved into the benches that dated back to 1017; I was taken aback by how legible they still were and the thought of how many feet had walked the same path that I had just walked.
Then we moved into the more modern part of the abbey complete with ornate gothic architecture. The vaulted ceilings felt like they went up forever, and the stained glass was absolutely sublime! We got to see the tombs of many former monarchs including Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. All of these fancy tombs had statues of the people laid within on top of them, all with their hands up in prayer. Even as someone who grew up Jewish and doesn’t hold too strongly to any faith, there was an air of divinity that existed throughout the abbey. There were even a couple of times that a woman’s voice came over an intercom and led those who wished to participate in a prayer.
One of the craziest things about Westminster Abbey is the amount of people buried and honored within its hallowed grounds. There isn’t a graveyard – these people are actually buried underneath the floor of the abbey. It felt a bit odd and disrespectful to literally be walking over their dead bodies, but hopefully they’re okay with it since they’re being honored in Westminster Abbey and all. The three memorials that were the most exciting to me were those of Stephen Hawking, Sir Laurence Olivier, and William Shakespeare.
The first memorial that really delighted me was that of Stephen Hawking. He was a theoretical physicist and cosmologist whose most well known discovery is black hole radiation. Hawking was born in 1942 in Oxford. At age 21 he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as ALS. This led to a steep decrease in motor function throughout his life, to the point where he was wheelchair bound by the end of the 60’s, and by the 80s he was only able to communicate through computer programs. This did not stop him from continuing his work, and he published several books, the most famous of which being A Brief History of Time and The Theory of Everything. I actually often fall asleep to an audiobook recording of The Theory of Everything; I like to believe that I am learning through osmosis as I sleep. Hawking passed away in 2018.
Sir Laurence Olivier is also memorialized within the abbey. He was born in 1907 in Surrey to a clergyman and his wife. He went to drama school and quickly rose to fame in the 1930s, first appearing in a West End production of Noel Coward’s Private Lives. In 1963 he became the founding director of Britain’s National Theatre, a place where we get to go and see a production next week! He also had a thriving film career. His 1948 Hamlet was actually my first introduction to that Shakespearean tragedy. He won several awards throughout his career including an Oscar. Olivier died in 1989.
Of course the most exciting memorial was that of William Shakespeare. He’s actually buried in Stratford-upon-Avon, but is such a pillar of English culture that it would be insane to not honor him in Westminster Abbey. Shakespeare was born on April 23rd, 1564 and died on the same day in 1616. He wrote 39 plays that we know of today, 36 of which appeared in the first folio (which we got to see a copy of at the V&A!). These plays can, for the most part, be classified in three categories: tragedies, comedies, and histories. Some scholars argue that some of his later plays, such as The Tempest, should be in a fourth category called either tragicomedies or romances depending on who you consult. During the Elizabethan era he was part of a theatre troupe called The Lord Chamberlain’s Men that was the most popular troupe of the time. Once the Jacobean era began the troupe was renamed to The King’s Men. Through all of his writing Shakespeare is credited with introducing over 1700 words to the English language as well as many turns of phrase that are still used today. Personally my favorite is “in a pickle” which is spoken by Trinculo in The Tempest.
Overall, I am so incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to go to and explore Westminster Abbey!
Theatre in London U of A 