(from a FamilySearch note which likely came from the Internet) Westminster Abbey It is hard to imagine Westminster at the time of the Conquest in 1066, when it occupied an island site amid the marshes that flanked the Thames… Since William the Conqueror received the English crown here on Christmas Day 1066, coronations have always been conducted in Westminster Abbey. An earlier Saxon monastery was completely destroyed by the Danes during the eighth century Westminster's history as a Benedictine house dates to its foundation by St. Dunstan in 959, although it was Edward the Confessor who established its status as the royal church of England following its consecration on 28 December 1065, just one week before his death Henry III was largely responsible for building the magnificent abbey church that stands today, work on which began in 1245, favoring the French Gothic style, which placed greater emphasis on height than the particular English interpretation that had evolved by then. Flying buttresses were used as a means of supporting the height of French cathedrals, a technique deemed visually ugly by English builders, who preferred to restrict the height and use internal methods of support. Work on the new church advanced rapidly, and it was reopened in 1269. Although much of the nave was not completed until well over a century later, fortunately the architect was content to follow the style of his predecessor, thereby maintaining the visual continuity Westminster Abbey is not merely a church of unsurpassed beauty but is also the last resting place of English monarchs - from Henry III in 1272 to George III in 1820. Without doubt, the abbey's sublime architectural achievement is the Henry VII chapel, originally founded by the monarch early in the sixteenth century with the intention of creating a shrine to Henry VI. This plan never came to fruition, and so the masterpiece of royal mason Robert Vertue was adopted by its instigator for himself and his queen, Elizabeth The fan-vaulted ceiling is elaborately decorated with the most complex tracery imaginable, the finest example of that art form in England. Almost every square inch of the chapel seems to be adorned with some form of intricate decoration and, although the overall effect can be almost overwhelming, it remains a quite breathtaking piece of work The royal tomb in the chapel is the work of a Florentine contemporary of Michelangelo, sculptor Pietro Torrigiano, who was commissioned to create the most moving, gilt-bronzed effigies of Henry and Elizabeth However, kings and queens are not the only ones celebrated in death; the abbey houses the Grave to the Unknown Soldier, a nation's tribute to those slain during the First World War. Famous names from the art, literature and science mingle with numerous outrageously ostentatious memorials erected to members of the nobility.