Westminster Abbey

First thing's first. Mark your calendars everyone, The Littlest Detective in Paris is out next week. Tell your friends, family, co-workers, babysitters, ratcats, henchmen and all those who want to know what will happen now that Clemmy is living in Paris. What will this mean for her search for the truth about her mother? You will have to wait and see . . .

Now, back to London...

Clemmy noticed they were now driving towards Westminster Abbey



Westminster Abbey is a church – a big beautiful building close to the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. Many exciting things have happened here, including the coronation of Kings and Queens, since King Harold’s in January 1066. Poor old King Harold was only King for a few months, but the Abbey has lasted a lot longer, hasn’t it?

The Abbey hasn’t always looked the way it does today, however – there have been lots of little changes and adjustments over the hundreds of years since it was first built. But where did it all start? Well, can you believe the church is actually situated on what was once an island? It was called Thorney Island and was owned, way back in 960AD by twelve Benedictine monks. These priests got a lot of support from the monarch of the time, King Edgar, who had granted them the island land in reward for their services. That’s why there is a special link between Westminster Abbey and the Royals to this day.

Today’s church has been around since 1245, the time of Henry III. In 1301, a special Coronation Chair was built inside, by order of Kind Edward I. Can you believe that there used to be something quite unique inside that chair? It was the Stone of Destiny, a Scottish emblem taken from the North Country by the English royalty, and has been used in coronations including our present Queen Elizabeth’s. But it isn’t there now - in 1996 it was returned to Scotland with a military escort! But Charles or Prince William shouldn’t worry - it will be temporarily returned to the Abbey for the next coronation, whenever that is.

In 1560, Queen Elizabeth I made the Abbey into a collegiate church (which means someone who is not a member of the church, such as a priest, is not in charge). Since then, the church has been used for funerals and burials of royals and important people in British History, including Princess Diana.

And the building of the Abbey continued for two hundred more years. The West Towers, which you can see in the picture, were not completed until 1745. That took almost 800 years to finish – about as long as homework feels sometimes!

Sometimes, people are confused by another church nearby. This one, just down the road from the Abby, is a Catholic church and is called Westminster Cathedral (see below). It’s pretty stunning too, but tourists often overlook it for the more popular Abbey.



This part of Westminster has so many buildings to look at - Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral, The Houses of Parliament, and the famous Big Ben. Pop across the River Thames and you can visit the London Eye or the The London Aquarium. St James's Park is also not too far from the Abbey, so if the weather is nice and sunny, a relaxing day in the park is a great way to finish off a day out in Westminster.

Finally, credit must go to http://www.westminster-abbey.org/our-history, for a lot of the information contained in today’s blog.

See you next time.

King's Road

“She often lost Clemmy when they went out shopping, usually because she became distracted by food. Once, in Marks and Spencer on the King's Road, Clemmy had to page her.”



Curry and cucumber sandwiches! Mrs Mac really is absentminded when she sees something tasty. It's a wonder how she was ever able to get anything done. But this isn't about food, this is about the King's Road. And there is more to it than Marks and Spencers.

King's Road has long been the home of the rich, but did you know it was also the route of kings, home of the 'swinging sixties', home of punk in the 1970s, site of the first ever artificial ice rink and, believe it or not, home to the first ever Starbucks in the UK? Today, it is still an exclusive area where even the fast food restaurants look swanky.

Kings Road used to provide a route for the King to travel from his palaces from Hampton Court to the Palace of Westminster; and from St James's Palace to Fulham. It was a private road and you could only use it if you had a special pass.

This lasted until 1830, when the road opened up to the public, and what a place it became after that!

King's Road was forever changing with the times. Royalty, hippies, punks, and artists all had a home on this road at one time or another.

Like I mentioned, King's Road was home to the first artificial ice rink, not just in London but in the world. Wow! Go London. It was called the Glaciarium and it opened way, way back in 1876. The rink and building cost £20,000 to build. Measuring 40 feet by 24 feet, made up of six inches of concrete base which four inches of loose dry earth, six inches of cow hair (oh my!), two inches of thick timber plank, a series of copper pipes which had been immersed in water on the hair, and finally, a machine to freeze the water so that people could skate on the surface. Just like everything on King's Road at the time, you had to be quite upper class to be able to afford to use it. For more information click on this link.

If we fast forward to the next century (even if it was just 55 years ago), you will find trendy Mary Quant opening up her first store on the King's Road. Her name may not mean very much to you, but her shop was where that icon of the swinging 60s fashion craze was born – the miniskirt. Even though those were already in existence, Mary decided to make them even shorter than they originally were and the trend just took off. Only the young could wear it (you needed nice legs!) and it was controversial amongst adults who thought the short length very rude!

Thanks to Mary and her mates, older rich people who lived nearby were not very happy with what was happening on King's Road, especially when the Chelsea Drugstore opened. It was part chemist, but it also housed loads of cool stuff for teenagers and young people, including a newsstand, bars, food, music, a boutique. If you wanted your goods delivered, pretty girls on motorbikes, wearing purple catsuits, would bring them right to your door. Plus, the building was made up of stainless steel, marble, mirrors and brass – in those days all of that sort of stuff was really trendy.

These days there are a lot of chain stores on the King's Road, whereas in the 60s there were loads of different types of people selling their individual brands. Take a walk down Kings Road today and you’ll find Gap, Monsoon, Zara and John Lewis, as well as some boutique shops with very hefty price tags. And if you look really carefully around you, at the people walking and the cars on the road, you may just spy someone famous. I’ve seen Kylie and Hugh Grant myself. So get out and check out the King’s Road. And don't just limit yourself to the food section of Marks and Spencer, as tempting as that might be!