From the Crypts to the Crown at Westminster Abbey

Interesting article, thank you for posting it

Thanks for sharing. I can't wait to see Westminster someday.

AS, you're welcome - I really enjoyed it, too.

roubrat, the Abbey is so incredible! I'm hoping to go back to London next year for a few days and can't wait to see it. I hope you get to see it soon! Are you going anywhere else in the UK when you're there in September?

So glad you shared this. I would have missed it otherwise.

Every time we go to London, we visit Westminster Abbey. It is such a special place. As my young grandson said, it is both a church and a history museum. Thank you sharing this article!

Are you going anywhere else in the UK when you're there in September?

York is my first base, then Edinburgh. I'm thinking in the next 2 years I'll get to London and south England.

Great article , Thanks for posting !!

I love the part about the gardener for the grounds and the reverence they take when they find the bones of long-ago monks in the grounds. It's really fascinating.

Mardee, what a wonderful article. Thanks for sharing. I love Westminster Abbey and visit each time I am in London, sometimes just for evensong. I took the new Hidden Highlights tour of the Abbey last fall and I can highly recommend. I saw parts of the building I had never seen. We got to go behind the glass screen around the coronation chair and to the Deans area of the building. The Dean happened to be there preparing for a meeting, but he told our guide to go ahead so we could see the Jerusalem room which is magnificent and where King Henry IV died in 1413. The tour ends in the new Queen's Gallery where the view of the Abbey from above is magnificent. I especially loved there is a lift you can use to get to it AND there is a modern restroom at the top. Both of which are never to be taken for granted in England. By the end of our tour I was ready for both and sent a silent prayer of thanks to the architects of the exhibit.

Laurie Beth, I'm glad you enjoyed it. And thank you for mentioning the Hidden Highlights Tour - that definitely sounds like something I would be interested in!

Wonderful article! I look forward to our visit to the Abbey two weeks from now! For some reason that I don't remember now, we didn't visit Westminster on our first trip to London back in 2006. I'll have to share this article with my husband so he can have even more reasons to look forward to seeing it. Thanks for sharing.

Mardee, I have been to the Abbey probably a dozen times and for a tourist I thought I knew it quite well. The article was so well written and, honestly, revelatory. Thank you so much.

Westminster Abbey is one of my favorite places in the small portion of the world I have been privileged to visit and I pay my respects every time I am in London. Thank you for posting this interesting article, Mardee.

Thank you for posting the link to he online article, Mardee. I get Smithsonian Magazine and loved the article very much. I tried to find a link to the online version to recommend it here, but failed.

It will enhance a visitor’s enjoyment and appreciation of Westminster Abbey. Now Inwant to go back and see that garden . . . .

Smithsonian magazine is always a great read.

That was a wonderful article! Thanks!

I was finally able to purchase tickets for May 12; however, the Verger tours will not be available. We are so disappointed. Our first visit to the Abbey was in the 70s and it felt so crowded at that time. I wish we could get some kind of personal tour this time.

Bumping this up so I can find it easier before my trip. :) And so that anyone who is going to England can see it as I think it's a wonderful article!

I’m so glad you bumped this, Mardee. I missed it in the spring. I really enjoyed it and now I’m hoping to get back to London some day to see the Abbey again.