Westminster Hall

The interior of the hall

Westminster Hallis a large medievalgreat hallwhich is part of thePalace of Westminsterin London, England. It was erected in 1097 forWilliam II( "William Rufus" ), at which point it was the largest hall in Europe.The building has had various functions over the years, including being used for judicial purposes from the twelfth to the nineteenth centuries. When ajoint addressis given to the two chambers of the UK Parliament, the House of Commons and House of Lords, the hall is on rare occasions the venue. It is also used for special addresses by Parliament to the Monarch. It was used to hostcoronation banquetsuntil 1821, and since the twentieth century has been the usual venue for thelyings in stateofstate and ceremonial funerals.

The fabric of the hall is particularly notable for itshammerbeam roof,a form typical ofEnglish Gothic architecturewhich uses horizontal trusses to span large distances. The roof was commissioned forRichard IIin 1393 and built by the royal carpenter,Hugh Herland.It is the largest clearspan medieval roof in England, measuring 20.7 by 73.2 metres (68 by 240 ft).At the same time the rest of the hall was remodelled by the master masonHenry Yevele.The renovations include eighty-three unique depictions of Richard's favourite heraldic badge, a resting chainedwhite hart.

History

Westminster Hall has served numerous functions. Until the 19th century, it was regularly used for judicial purposes, housing three of the most important courts in the land: theCourt of King's Bench,theCourt of Common Pleasand theCourt of Chancery.In the reign ofHenry II(1154–89) a royal decree established a fixed sitting of judges in the Hall. In 1215,Magna Cartastipulated that these courts would sit regularly in the Hall for the convenience of litigants.In 1875, the courts were amalgamated into theHigh Court of Justice,which continued to have chambers adjacent to Westminster Hall until moved to the then newRoyal Courts of Justicebuilding in 1882.In addition to regular courts, Westminster Hall also housed important state trials, includingimpeachmenttrials and the state trials ofKing Charles Iat the end of theEnglish Civil War,William Wallace,Thomas More,CardinalJohn Fisher,Guy Fawkes,theEarl of Strafford,the rebel Scottish lords of the 1715 and 1745 uprisings, andWarren Hastings.On the night of 10 May 1941 at the height of the Blitz, the Palace of Westminster was showered with incendiary bombs. Scottish politician Walter Elliot happened to be nearby, and directed firefighters to prioritise saving the medieval Hall rather than the Chamber of the House of Commons, whose roof was also alight, and smashed through a door to the Hall with an axe so hoses could be brought in.

The St Stephen's Porch end of the Hall displays under the stained glass window theParliamentary War Memoriallisting on eight panels the names of Members and staff of both Houses of Parliament and their sons killed serving in the First World War; the window itself, installed in 1952, commemorates members and staff of both Houses who died in the Second World War. In 2012, a new stained glass window commemoratingQueen Elizabeth II's diamond jubileewas installed opposite this window, at the other end of the hall.

George IV'scoronation banquetwas held in Westminster Hall in 1821, the last of its kind; no such banquet has been held since.

Westminster Hall has also served ceremonial functions. From the twelfth century to the nineteenth,coronation banquetshonouring new monarchs were held here. The last coronation banquet was that ofKing George IV,held in 1821;his successor,William IV,abandoned the idea because he deemed it too expensive. Since the late 19th century, the Hall has been used as a place forlying in stateduringstateand ceremonial funerals. Such an honour is usually reserved for the Sovereign and for their consorts; the only non-royals to receive it in the twentieth century wereFrederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts(1914), the 48 victims of the crash of the airship R101 (1930)andWinston Churchill(1965). In 1910 the hall was used for the lying in state ofKing Edward VII,followed byKing George Vin 1936,King George VIin 1952,Queen Maryin 1953,Queen Elizabeth The Queen Motherin 2002, andQueen Elizabeth IIin 2022.Around 250,000 mourners filed past the coffin when Queen Elizabeth II lay in state, which resulted in the delamination of the Yorkstone floor.

The two Houses have presented ceremonial Addresses to the Crown in Westminster Hall on important public occasions. For example, Addresses were presented atElizabeth II'sSilver Jubilee(1977),Golden Jubilee(2002) andDiamond Jubilee(2012), the Accession ofCharles III(2022), the 300th anniversary of theGlorious Revolution(1988), and the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War (1995).

It is considered a rare privilege for a foreign leader to be invited to address both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall. Since the Second World War, the only leaders to have done so have been French presidentCharles de Gaullein 1960, South African presidentNelson Mandelain 1996,Pope Benedict XVIin 2010, U.S. presidentBarack Obamain 2011,Burmeseopposition leaderAung San Suu Kyiin 2012, andUkrainianpresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyyin 2023.President Obama was the first US president to be invited to use the Hall for an address to Parliamentand Aung San Suu Kyi was the first non-head of state to be given the accolade of addressing MPs and peers in Westminster Hall.

Following reforms in 1999, the House of Commons now uses the Grand Committee Room next to Westminster Hall as an additional debating chamber. (Although it is not part of the main hall, these are usually spoken of asWestminster Hall debates.) In contrast with the two main Chambers, in which the government and opposition benches directly face each other, the seating in the Grand Committee Room is laid out in a U-shape, a pattern meant to reflect the non-partisan nature of the debates there.

Architecture

One of the angel corbels which support the roof; it holds theCoat of arms of Englandused intermittently between 1340 and 1406

The hall is notable for itshammerbeam roof,which was commissioned forRichard IIin 1393.It was built by the royal carpenter,Hugh Herland,and is considered "the greatest creation of medieval timber architecture". creating a single huge open space, with a dais at the end. Richard's master builderHenry Yeveleretained the original dimensions, refacing the walls, with fifteen life-size statues of kings placed in niches.The rebuilding had been begun by KingHenry IIIin 1245, but by Richard's time had been dormant for over a century. Included in Richard's renovations are repetitions of his favourite heraldic badge – awhite hart,chained, and in an attitude of rest – which is repeated eighty-three times, without any of them being an exact copy of another.

The largest clearspan medieval roof in England, Westminster Hall's roof measures 20.7 by 73.2 metres (68 by 240 ft).Oak timbers for the roof came from royal woods inHampshireand from parks inHertfordshireand from that of William Crozier ofStoke d'Abernon,who supplied over 600 oaks inSurrey,among other sources; they were assembled nearFarnham,Surrey, 56 kilometres (35 mi) away.Accounts record the large number of wagons and barges which delivered thejointed timbersto Westminster for assembly.

New Dawn

New Dawnis a glass artwork byMary Branson,installed in Westminster Hall in 2016. It celebrates the campaign for women's suffrage, and is illuminated with light levels changing according to the tidal level of theRiver Thames.