Westminster Hall
The Georgian House Hotel is
the perfect place to stay if you are planning to come to
London to visit the Westminster Hall. The hotel is
located in a safe quiet area of Pimlico, just 10 minutes
walk from the hall. The rooms are attractive and comfortable
and the service is kind and attentive. Prices are
very competitive.
The Importance of Westminster Hall
The Westminster Hall was designed originally as a place
for feasting and entertaining, but its very size made it
more than that. Among other uses, the Royal Council of bishops,
nobles and ministers assembled there. The special later
form of this Council, which came to be known as Parliament,
was the forerunner of the present House of Lords. It was
also the site of the first true English parliament to include
elected representatives, summoned by Simon de Montfort in
1265. While Parliament has never met in the Westminster
Hall on a regular basis, it was the existence of the Hall,
which at that time was the largest in Europe, which helped
to make Westminster the judicial and administrative centre
of the kingdom.
History of Westminster Hall
The Palace was one of the monarch's principal homes throughout
the later Middle Ages, and for this reason the institutions
of Government came to be clustered in the Westminster area.
To the east and south of the Hall lay the domestic apartments
of the mediaeval Palace, and later, the royal chapel of
St Stephen. Kings worshipped in the upper Chapel and their
courtiers in the lower level or "crypt" chapel below.
The Westminster Hall, of which the walls were built in
1097-99, as part of an intended reconstruction of the whole
palace, is the oldest existing building on the Palace of
Westminster site. The Westminster Hall was also the traditional
venue for Coronation banquets.
During later centuries, the Westminster Hall housed the
courts of law, and was the place of many notable state trials,
for instance, those of Thomas More, Charles I, Warren Hastings,
and the Gunpowder Plot conspirators. With its many shops
and stalls, selling wigs, pens, books and other legal paraphernalia,
it became one of the chief centres of London life.
Modern Uses of Westminster Hall
The Westminster Hall, which survived the fire of 1834 and
the bombing of 1941, is now used for major public ceremonies.
Among recent events there have been the presentation of
Addresses to the Queen on the Silver Jubilee in 1977, to
mark 50 years since the end of World War II in 1995, and
the opening of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference
in 1986. On these occasions, the Westminster Hall is brightly
lit and decked with flowers and coloured hangings, and presents
an altogether different public face from its normal rather
sombre appearance.
The Westminster Hall is also the place where lyings in
state of monarchs, consorts, and (rarely) very distinguished
statesmen take place. The first such occasion was Gladstone
in 1898, followed by, in the last century, King George VI
[1952], Queen Mary [1953] and Sir Winston Churchill [1965].
In April 2002 several hundred thousand people queued to
pay their respects to Queen Elizabeth, the late Queen Mother,
as she lay in state in the Westminster Hall.
Georgian House Hotel is ideally
situated in a very central location, so visiting sights
all over London is quick and easy. Why not book Georgian
House Hotel when you visit Westminster Hall? You can book
online or email to make a reservation on reception@georgianhousehotel.co.uk,
or telephone on 0044(0)207 834 1438
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