Westminster Abbey

Opposite the Houses of Parliament stands Westminster Abbey. A church has stood here since Saxon times when, in the year 750 AD, a Benedictine Abbey was founded. It was known as West Monastery (West-minster), from its position 3 miles (five kilometres) west of London's centre. From Norman times British monarchs have been crowned there and since the 13th century they have been buried there. Many other famous people are also buried in Westminster Abbey including statesmen, musicians and writers. In Poet's Corner can be found statues and the tombs of poets such as T.S. Eliot.

Susan Sheerin, Jonathan Seath, Gillian White: Spotlight on Britain; Oxford University Press, 1985, page 25