Westminster Guided Walk

25.5.11
My second guided walk led me to Westminster. To start we looked at the heraldry of this area. A crowned portcullis is the symbol of Parliament and of the City of Westminster. Once you start looking you see it everywhere!The new parliamentary office building is called Portcullis House - its roof is essentially a portcullis.

Have a closer look at Big Ben. Directly below the apex there are six gilded windows. Inside the room behind the windows there is a powerful lantern. This is lit when Parliament is sitting at night. This is the time to visit and watch Parliament in action from the Strangers' Gallery as there is unlikely to be a queue!

Another interesting curiosity is the lamp standard on the corner of the fence. It's the House of Commons taxi lamp. It flashes on and off when an MP wants a taxi!

If you keep walking along the front of the Houses of Parliament you will eventually come to the statue of Emmeline Pankhurst (née Goulden; 14 or 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) who was an English political activist and leader of the British suffragette movement, which helped women win the right to vote. In 1999, Time named Pankhurst as one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century, stating: "she shaped an idea of women for our time; she shook society into a new pattern from which there could be no going back".^[1]
Although she was widely criticized for her militant tactics, her work is recognized as a crucial element in achieving women's suffrage in Britain. However, historians disagree about the effect of her activity on public support for the cause.^[2][3]

If you walk across the grass you will find yourself with the view of the Houses of Parliament that is often used when interviewing MPs on the television. You will also come across the small but rather beautiful building which celebrates the abolition of slavery.

And of course, no tour of Westminster would be complete without Westminster Abbey. Its formal name is the Collegiate Church of St. Peter at Westminster and it was first built by Edward the Confessor in the mid-eleventh century who wanted to be buried where St. Peter was supposed to have walked. You have to pay to enter and visit except if you want to attend a service. I thought it would be rather lovely to end the day with an Evensong service, but as my luck would have it, it was closed that day due to some concert!