Westminster Hall
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Previous page: The House Of LordsWESTMINSTER HALL
WESTMINSTER HALL, the south end-wall of which was moved back by Barry to open up the hall from the porch. Until the inauguration of the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand, in 1882, the chief courts were in Westminster Hall (which was then partitioned into various compartments) and in buildings (since demolished) adjoining on the west.
In Westminster Hall took place many of the most memorable State trials - of Wallace, Sir Thomas More, the Protector Somerset, Strafford, Charles I, and Warren Hastings, among others. Brass tablets indicate where Strafford, Charles I, Wallace, and Hastings stood during their trials, and others where the bodies of Edward VII and Gladstone rested when they lay in state.
Three hundred years after it was built by Rufus, Westminster Hall was damaged by fire and was remodelled by Richard II. The aisles were removed, the walls were raised by two feet, a new porch was formed and the hammer beam roof - the noblest and most wonderful example of its kind in existence - was constructed.
The hall is 68 feet wide (the length was originally 239 feet), and the roof spans this great space, supported only by the buttressed walls and by certain inherent elements of strength developed by the interlocking on geometrical principles of the timbers of Sussex oak.
It was Hugh Herland, the King's Master Carpenter, who swung this wonderful piece of carpentry across the hall. Observe the angels that look down from the hammer-beams, holding shields that bear alternately the arms of Edward the Confessor and the ill-fated Richard.
Scarcely was his Great Hall completed than Rufus met his death in the New Forest; before Richard had completed the remodelling of the hall his formal deposition took place within it and he was shortly afterwards murdered.
The roof has recently been repaired (the death-watch beetle had made great ravages) and is now strengthened by steel trusses that are concealed in the timbers. In the southeast corner of the hall is the entrance (notice the inscription near the head of the staircase) to
ST. STEPHEN'S CRYPT, which escaped the fire. It dates from the 14th Century and is used occasionally for the marriages of Members and officials and the christening of their children.
This beautifully decorated chapel inspires a thought of what the Abbey must have looked like before the Suppression.
Adjoining the Crypt are the old cloisters. These are not shown to the public.
Leaving, one ascends to Old Palace Yard, where, across the way, is the old House of Commons - the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey.