Although no monarch has lived on the site since King Henry VIII moved out in 1515, the modern Houses of Parliament – or the Palace of Westminster, as the buildings are still officially designated – are the direct descendant of this royal residence, a history of almost 1,000 years. Little had improved three centuries later, when Edward the Confessor came to the throne and began rebuilding the island’s humble monastery church – the minster west of the City of London that gives the area its modern name – on the instructions of the Pope.Įdward also decided to build a royal palace alongside his grand new Westminster Abbey. Once known as Thorney Island – a desolate, bramble and marsh-laden islet off the north bank of the Thames a mile outside the then London – the area was described as “a terrible place” in a charter of the 8th-century King Offa of Mercia.
The clock tower that houses the great bell ‘Big Ben’ may be celebrating its 150th birthday this year, but the history of this institution stretches back beyond even the first parliament to sit here in 1265. It’s one of the most iconic buildings in Britain, if not the world, and the most famous part of the Houses of Parliament.
Step inside London’s most famous landmark and follow its 1,000-year journey from ancient palace to modern-day parliament Above: The Houses of Parliament
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