Westminster Abbey

The Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, also known as Westminster Abbey, is a sizable, primarily Gothic abbey church located in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. One of the most famous ecclesiastical structures in the UK, it has served as the coronation location and final resting place for English and later British monarchs. Westminster Abbey has served as the site of every English and British monarch's coronation since William the Conqueror in 1066. Since 1100, the Abbey has hosted sixteen royal nuptials.

A church was allegedly built there during the time of Mellitus, a Bishop of London, in the seventh century, according to a legend that was first recorded by Sulcard in 1080. King Henry III gave the permission to start building the current church in 1245. The church was formerly a part of a Benedictine Catholic abbey that was disbanded in 1539. The cathedral of the Diocese of Westminster was thereafter housed there until 1550, after which it functioned as the secondary cathedral for the Diocese of London until 1556. Mary I returned the abbey to the Benedictines in 1556, and Queen Elizabeth I designated it as a royal peculiar—a church directly answerable to the monarch—in 1559. Westminster Abbey is one of the most magnificent churches and cathedrals.

Location: Dean's Yard, London

Years built: 960