Hereabouts (roughly on a line from the statue of Richard I to the Peers Lobby of Barry's buildings) with its long axis (of some 85 ft) east-west, it is thought Edward the Confessor built the chamber in which he slept in the palace of Westminster when supervising the building of the Abbey between 1050 and 1065 and where he may have died (05/01/1066). The west end of the chamber abutted the southern end of the east side of the Lesser or White Hall, which was probably the major hall of his residential buildings on this little island bounded by the Tyburn's entries to the Thames. Against the north side of the eastern end of the chamber there was a chapel, with an entrance from the chamber, from which a cloister ran north (somewhat the line of the Peers Corridor) to the Chapel of Our Lady of the Pew. Between them they would have formed three sides of a court of which the fourth side was the White Hall. On the south-east corner there was a tower and past the west side of that there may have been access to the Queens Chamber which had a north-south long axis (of about 75 ft).. The painting of the chamber was at the behest of Henry III (1207-1272). The pictures were mainly Old Testament martyrdom, warfare, destruction and bloodshed, although around the door from the chamber to the chapel was a picture of the coronation of the Confessor. The legend is that the death warrant of Charles I was signed here but certainly most of the signatories did their thing elsewhere. It is very likely that the puritans of the Commonwealth were amongst those who covered the paintings with whitewash wallpaper and tapestries but there were definitely others that did so. However the pictures were rediscovered when there was a major refurbishment of the old palace in 1800. At that time careful sketches were made of them and from those a century later Professor Ernest Tristram painted copies which have been hung by the stairs leading from the Principal Floor of Barry's buildings to the Terrace. The sketching was at a most fortunate time because the chamber was gutted by the fire of 1834. The final demise of the structure was in 1847 when the Lords had been reluctantly moved out of their temporary accommodation here and the new building passed over it. As with most of the major halls and chambers there was an undercroft beneath this one. The window arches are apparent in a water-colour sketch made by Thomas Clark of the exterior of the gutted chamber shortly after the fire. It is likely that there were pretty lowly underlings who looked out of those windows when the Confessor slept in the room above.

O/S Co-ords:3025.7947
Source(s):

Westminster Palace and Parliament

From about the 14th century until the end of the eighteenth this was where parliament met most often, i.e., where the monarch summoned the lords, temporal and spiritual, and representatives of the communities from across the kingdom. This usually occurred when s/he wished to obtain some favour from them. That was frequently a contribution of money to the exchequer but also happened when their acceptance was required for some change in the privileges of an individual or group. Between times it was the meeting place of the lords. The building had two storeys of and the chamber formed the upper. The practice for much of these four hundred years may have been that the monarch met with the lords in the Painted Chamber (the east end of which was just to the north of this hall) and they then retired to this chamber for their private discussions. The original structure here may have been the hall built in the earliest, 11th and 12th century, palace as accommodation for the queen and may have had a chapel at its southern end. That space was subsequently occupied by the Princes Chamber (later called The Robing Room). This Parliament Building may have been a part of the enhancements effected by Henry III (1207-72). The lower storey accommodated the kitchens for the palace whilst it was a residence for the monarchs of the 11th to the 16th century. It was in their disused space that Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators placed their charges on 05/11/1605. Their lordships and the meeting place of Parliament (monarch lords and commons) moved to the White Hall, that had become the Court of Requests, in 1801. This Parliament Chamber was demolished in 1823. A plan of the palace 'before 1834' provided in Brayley and Britton's detailed 'History of the Ancient Palace' of 1836 shows a 'Royal Gallery' here. This was approached up The King's Staircase (that replaced The Robing Room) which led from a vestibule in the cloister that was itself entered from a gate in the south-east corner of Old Palace Yard.

O/S Co-ords:3024.7942
Source(s):

Parliament House - The Chambers of the House of Commons

The History of the Ancient Palace and Late Houses of Parliament at Westminster

Edward the Confessor (born between 1002 and 1005 died 05/01/1066) was a Saxon king of England. It was also of significance for the monarchy of England that the Confessor was sanctified. The power that his successors used to maintain their authority for some 600 years depended considerably on their being God's anointed and descended from that saint. In so far as the peripatetic life style of a Saxon monarch allowed him to have a base Edward's had probably been in Winchester but with some accommodation in the City of London. However it has been suggested that he built accommodation here in which he preferred to reside whilst overseeing the construction of the Abbey from 1050 to 1065. This established a royal residence close to but not within the city of London and it was in the group of buildings on this site that subsequent kings, through to Henry VIII (1491-1547) lived when in London. The Confessor may have died in a bed chamber of the old palace that survived until 1834. That room, although probably built in his time, achieved particular fame as 'The Painted Chamber' because of the decorations carried out about 1237 to the commission of Henry III (1207-1272). Westminster Hall was added to the Confessor's buildings by his son William Rufus (about 1056 - 1100) and the Confessor's grandson Stephen (about 1097 - 1154) added a chapel dedicated to his namesake saint. Edward I commenced the replacement of Stephen's Norman building with a major piece of showmanship to challenge Sainte Chapelle that had been consecrated in 1295 by Louis IX in France. Edward II continued the work which Edward III (1312-77) completed to provide what was reportedly a most beautiful building with dazzling decoration when that was finished in about 1365. It was to that building that the Commons moved in 1547. They had previously met in various places in the Palace, the Abbey, or City guild halls and for some time in the Star Chamber which was also built in Edward III's reign specifically for the meetings of the King's council. Two other extant remains of the pre-Reformation palace are Edward III's Jewel Tower and the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft, previously beneath St Stephen's Chapel, which was commenced during the reign of Edward II (1284-1327) and finished in Edward III's. Under Richard II (1367-1400) the present magnificent hammer beam roof of Westminster Hall was constructed. This roof was higher and gave a clear span to the hall. The eleventh century structure which it replaced was supported by two rows of pillars, as with a nave and aisles on each side. However, between these major units, and others which were: reception rooms; accommodation for the Kings' consorts; dining halls; etc. there would be the various kitchens, stables, cellars, etc., and, certainly, higgledy-piggledy ranges of houses for the support staff, including officers of the court; and, finally, there would have been open spaces and gardens. There may well also have been recreation facilities as there were in Henry VII's Hampton Court Palace and Henry VIII's Whitehall Palace. 'Tennis anyone?' was, apparently, the cry of Tudor courtiers as well as the party people of 1930's country houses. This scene changed in 1512. In that year, sections of the residential accommodation, of which substantial elements to the south and west of the buildings probably remained through to the 19th century was razed by fire. This had also happened in 1290. As in 1290 the reigning monarch moved to York House. However, this monarch, Henry VIII, had decided that he wanted a palace that set his kingship in the same frame as the residences of Roman Emperors on the Palatine Hills. An Act of Parliament in 1536 made Whitehall 'the king's whole palace at Westminster' with 'all such and like prerogatives, liberties, pre-eminences, jurisdictions and privileges' previously of 'the king's ancient palace within this realm'. This can be represented as an emphasis of the first schism in the major elements of English governance with the executive moving away from the judicial and legislative. Also the king who had made himself the head of the church moved into a residence slightly but distinctly distant from the Abbey which was the most important unit of the church that responded directly to him. The definition and approval of these changes by Acts of Parliament surely lessened the divinity of the king's authority.

O/S Co-ords:3022.7943
Source(s):

Parliament House - The Chambers of the House of Commons

Westminster Palace and Parliament