Westminster Abbey and its treasures

Many years ago (UGH! 20+) I remember visiting Westminster Abbey and visiting it’s basement. It seemed to me at the time that it was rarely visited. It seemed a quiet place to visit in the Abbey when it, itself, was overrun with tourists. Old glass display cases held equally old and unusual items. My fascination with the worn out funeral effergies on display then is still vivid to me and that still holds with me today.

In my past visit, I remember peering closely at the effergies of numerous Kings and Queens of times past, taking in the detail of their wax faces and hands, their slightly stiff and dusty wigs and the faded regalia of rulership. This time, my visit to Westminster Abbey included the newly opened Gallery and I was pleasantly surprised to see the same old funeral effergies on display, but this time far more appropriately displayed - and can I say - not so faded and dusty looking!

The UK is currently gripped by a madness named Brexit. While the 'Remainers" have been loud and vocal, as I walked towards Westminster there were crowds protesting but they were "Leavers" waving banners that stated "Leave Means Leave" and asking those driving past to hoot their horns in support. Fortunately there were not enough of them to hamper my walking onwards past the statues of past Prime Ministers and Notables to gain entry into the Abbey.

I have spent many a wonderful hour or ten wandering Westminster Abbey. I am always intrigued by finding previously unseen (by me) memorials and graves of interesting characters and high achievers. I always pay my respects to the Tudors, in particular Queen Elizabeth 1 and to Mary, Queen of Scots. As I walked around this time, I found the brass plaque to Anne of Cleves which I don't remember seeing before. It strikes me as somewhat amusing that Anne, the discarded and unwanted wife, has her burial spot in the Abbey while Henry himself is lodged under a marble slab with others, at Windsor Castle.

But I was here not for the usual Abbey wonders, but to visit the newly opened Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries set high above the Abbey floor in the medieval triforium. This new display space is accessed from the newly built Weston Tower. I had to admit to wandering around looking for the entrance, it wasn't obvious to me initially but having found it through the kindness of the warden on hand, I opted for the climb up the Tower to the Galleries rather than the elevator option. The gallery is 16 metres ( 52 feet) above the floor of the Abbey and as you walk up the Tower, you get the most wonderful views across the Abbey to the Palace of Westminster and the medieval Chapter House.

Weston Tower view

Abbey entrance

gargoyle

Weston Tower window

The Weston Tower is the first new structure added to the Abbey since 1745 and the entrance is located outside Poet's Corner. As I walked up the Tower, I was easily entranced by being so close to the stained glass windows and how intricately carved the stone frames were. A gargoyle leered out from above one window looking down upon the grounds and humanity below, as it has done for centuries. I am sure it has seen more mayhem than the Brexiteers offered today.

There is no allowance for taking photos in the Galleries so I have scoured their website to show you a little of what interested me the most.

Westminster Abbey itself identifies 5 key treasures. 1: The Liber Regalis - this 14th century document is a guide to the staging of Royal Coronations and Funerals and is still used to this day. 2: Henry VII effigy head - it is based on his death mask and is very lifelike. The head is all that remains of his funeral effigy. 3: The Royal Marriage Licence of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. 4: The Westminster Retable - A medieval altarpiece and England’s oldest surviving example, it is thought to have been the centrepiece of Henry III’s Abbey. This is in the picture above. 5: The Litlyngton Missal - One of the largest surviving English medieval Latin manuscripts, it is richly decorated with coloured inks and gold leaf.

As I wandered around the gallery what struck me was the ease in which I could view the displays and find those things which resonated most with me. As wonderful as the five treasures are, what stuck with me was seeing a small carved medieval face smiling/grimacing down at me from its position high on one of the stone archways. In another, the Coronation Chair, most impressive from a distance and most amusing close up where one can see all the graffiti carved into the timber by naughty Abbey schoolboys. The rich colours emanating from the stained glass window panels fell across the floor and I was caught up in the juxtaposition of colour and shadow. A row of three carved statues, one being Elizabeth 1, of plain marble and yet evincing such a sense of movement from the delicate folds of the clothing and expression of face and hand, that I stood gazing at them for a long time in awe.

(Nelson picture taken from alt website)

There in their glory were the funeral effigies....Elizabeth 1 gazing across the timber floor and the round window to Elizabeth 2 in painting form. A large painting of the current Queen set in the Abbey and a truly great work of art. Many of the other effigies I remember were also there, rescued from that lonely, dusty basement. It didn't take me much imagination to look at the detail of their faces and see the life that was theirs, there. The colour of the hair, the shape of the jaw and scale of body. Charles II is there resplendent with dark curly hair and there is Horatio, Lord Nelson. It is one of the best likenesses of the Admiral as the face and left hand were modelled by Catherin Andras for whom Nelson had sat some years prior. The effigy stands 5 feet 5.5.inches high and has a wooden body, arms and legs. Nelson died at the battle of Trafalgar on 21st October 1805. The wax effigy is dressed in some of the clothes which belonged to him. I stood gazing at him for a while. He is a slender and diminutive man, yet even in wood and wax, commanding. I couldn't help but imagine what a dynamo he must have been in life, a character forcefully energising the figure I saw before me.

Edward III - his wooden effigy shows evidence of the stroke he had just before he died, with his mouth twisted to one side. Mary I displays a prominent belly, perhaps the effect of the ovarian cancer that killed her. More chillingly is the head of Henry VII, an unpopular king whose death in 1509 was cheered by the people. Further on are wax effigies of the Stuart kings: a tall Charles II, wearing the oldest example of the Order of the Garter, and a diminutive William III beside his more stately wife Mary II.

For the Tudorholics like me, I was interested to see the first Elizabeth - the effigy is clothed in a gown Elizabeth could have worn and underneath, a corset and other underclothes. Elizabeth I had to be significantly remade in the 18th century – 200 years after her death, after years of neglect. In 1995, the effigy of Queen Elizabeth was unclothed for study and the items were pronounced contemporary to Elizabeth's death in 1603. What is left of the original effigy of 1603 is still on display – a headless wooden figure (the original wax head has long gone) wearing a corset and my, they do make for a small waist! It appears to be made of a fine calico and it is laced down the front. Interestingly, it is rather flared and long at the front and I can't imagine how anyone could sit while wearing such a garment.

(Picture taken from alt website)

The effigy on display is regally gowned and adorned with ermine and pearls. She holds the orb and sceptre before her, while her finely curled auburn hair is crowned and threaded with pearls. The Queen in life dressed to impress and she is said to have owned more than 3,000 gowns, many hand-embroidered and decorated with diamonds and sapphires, and she ordered new shoes made for her every week. Sadly little of this wonderful collection of garments remain existence. Each successive King or Queen added and took from the Royal Wardrobe, reworked and refashioned items and then in the Great Fire, the very building which stored them, itself was lost.

I had imagined that funeral effigies were put together after the person had died, but this was not always the case. Many of the 21 effigies on display used a death mask as the basis for the face of the effigy however other royals were more organised! Catherine, the Duchess of Buckingham in 1743 spent many months, many years before her death, organising her own funeral effigy. Catherine was the illegitimate daughter of James II and the witty Catherine Sedley. She stands today with her son Robert who died aged 3, in 1715. His effigy, 3 feet 3 inches tall, is wearing the finest clothes money could buy in the early 18th century. He is dressed with a real hair wig and an elaborate cap. During preparation for display, these were removed to reveal his lifelike wax head, which may have been based on a death mask of the little boy. Robert wears a full length cerise velvet robe trimmed with silver braid and lined with pink silk and underneath he wears a silk and gold thread brocade long-sleeved waistcoat tied with a brocade sash. Beneath these two garments were tiny lace trimmed linen cuffs, a linen chemise and cravat, a little corset and square-toed brown leather boots. There are little slits in the back of his robe for 'training reins' for walking, such a sad reminder of how young he really was when he died.

The funeral effigy of Robert, Marquis of Normanby. © Zenzie Tinker Conservation

The Duchess Catherine effigy, upon investigation, showed she is wearing her own clothes and is completed with human hair and eyelashes. She wears many layers of fine garments and undergarments - embroidered petticoats, silk stockings and green satin shoes, which while we cannot see them, the effigy is clothed in all the garments it has worn for so long. The effigy itself was made to stand next to her grave in the Abbey and is said to have been ready for display 8 years before she died.

Visiting the new Galleries at the Abbey was well worth the extra expense for admission. I had avoided the busy tourist times and felt extraordinary grateful that during my visit I could wander without hindrance and spend as long as I wanted exploring and admiring the displays. One thing for any visitor should do though, is to go to the railing of the triforium and look down upon the Abbey itself. It is a unique view and gave me a real opportunity to appreciate and admire the Abbey. Far down below me I could see the people milling about, gazing at the memorials, threading their way through the crowds to the next spot on their audio-itinerary. From my vantage point, I could see the glory of the building itself, its soaring arches and long gallery and indeed wondered anew at how something like this could be built by hand, so many years ago. Heading out into the sunshine and about to start my next search for The Sherlock Holmes Pub and lunch, I stood near the entrance once again and gazed up, up to the intricate carvings of so many past Kings, angels and the Madonna and Child.

Take a moment to look up. Take a moment to look down. One sees extraordinary things when one's perspective changes.