Westminster is an area of

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...

, part of the wider

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and London boroughs, borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of cent ...

. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral and much of the

West End West End most commonly refers to: * West End of London, an area of central London, England * West End theatre, a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London, England West End may also refer to: Pl ...

shopping and entertainment district. The name ( ang, Westmynstre) originated from the informal description of the abbey church and royal peculiar of St Peter's (Westminster Abbey), west of the City of London (until the

English Reformation The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...

there was also an

Eastminster Eastminster, also known as New Abbey, St Mary Graces, and other variants, was a Cistercian abbey on Tower Hill at East Smithfield in London. It was founded by Edward III in 1350 immediately outside the Roman London Wall in what is now the London ...

, near the Tower of London, in the

East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

). The abbey's origins date from between the 7th and 10th centuries, but it rose to national prominence when rebuilt by

Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ; la, Eduardus Confessor , ; ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was one of the last Anglo-Saxon English kings. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066. Edward was the son of Æth ...

in the 11th. Westminster has been the home of England's government since about 1200, and from 1707 the Government of the United Kingdom. In 1539, it became a city. Westminster is often used as a

metonym Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept. Etymology The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name' ...

to refer to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, in the

Geography

Physical geography

The

City and Liberty of Westminster The City and Liberty of Westminster was a unit of local government in the county of Middlesex, England. It was located immediately to the west of the City of London. Originally under the control of Westminster Abbey, the local authority for the ...

and other Westminster administrative units (except the broader modern London Borough – known as the City of Westminster – created in 1965), extended from the River Thames to the old Roman Road from the

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

to western England, which is now locally called Oxford Street. Thorney Island lay between the arms of the former

River Tyburn The River Tyburn was a stream (bourn) in London, its main successor sewers emulate its main courses but it resembled the Colne in its county of Middlesex in that it had many distributaries (inland mouths). It ran from South Hampstead, through M ...

at its confluence with the Thames, while the western boundary with Chelsea was formed by the similarly lost

River Westbourne The Westbourne or Kilburn is a culverted small River Thames tributary in London, rising in Hampstead and Brondesbury Park and which as a drain unites and flows southward through Kilburn and Bayswater (west end of Paddington) to skirt underne ...

. The line of the river still forms (with very slight revisions) the boundaries of the modern borough with the

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is an Inner London borough with royal status. It is the smallest borough in London and the second smallest district in England; it is one of the most densely populated administrative regions in the ...

Further north, away from the river mouth, Westminster included land on both sides of the Westbourne, notably Knightsbridge (including the parts of Hyde Park west of the Serpentine lake – originally formed by damming the Serpentine – and most of Kensington Gardens).

Localities

Westminster includes the sub-districts of Soho,

St James Saint James or St. James may refer to: People Saints *James, brother of Jesus (died 62 or 69), also known as James the Just *James the Great (died 44), Apostle, also known as James, son of Zebedee, or Saint James the Greater **Saint James Matamoro ...

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

Pimlico Pimlico () is an area of Central London in the City of Westminster, built as a southern extension to neighbouring Belgravia. It is known for its garden squares and distinctive Regency architecture. Pimlico is demarcated to the north by London V ...

, Victoria, Belgravia and Knightsbridge (shared with neighbouring

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

). Westminster merged with neighbouring Paddington and Marylebone in 1965 to form a larger modern borough, these neighbouring areas (except for a small area of Paddington in part of Kensington Gardens), lie north of Oxford Street.

Open spaces

The district's open spaces include: * Hyde Park *

Kensington Gardens Kensington Gardens, once the private gardens of Kensington Palace, are among the Royal Parks of London. The gardens are shared by the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and sit immediately to the west of Hyde P ...

(part) * Green Park * Buckingham Palace Garden * St James's Park

Origins and administration

The development of the area began with the establishment of the Abbey on a site then called Thorney Island, the choice of site may in part relate to the natural ford which is thought to have carried Watling Street over the Thames in the vicinity. The wider district became known as Westminster in reference to the church.

Legendary origin

The legendary origin is that in the early 7th century, a local fisherman named Edric (or Aldrich), ferried a stranger in tattered foreign clothing over the Thames to Thorney Island. It was a miraculous appearance of

St Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupation ...

, a fisherman himself, coming to the island to

consecrate Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

the newly built church, which would subsequently develop into Westminster Abbey. He rewarded Edric with a bountiful catch when he next dropped his nets. Edric was instructed to present the King and St. Mellitus, Bishop of London, with a salmon and various proofs that the consecration had already occurred . Every year on 29 June, St Peters day, the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers presents the Abbey with a salmon in memory of this event.

Recorded origin

A charter of 785, possibly a forgery, grants land to ''the needy people of God in Thorney, in the dreadful spot which is called Westminster''. The text suggests a pre-existing monastic community who chose to live in a very challenging location. The recorded origins of the Abbey (rather than a less important religious site) date to the 960s or early 970s, when

Saint Dunstan Saint Dunstan (c. 909 – 19 May 988) was an English bishop. He was successively Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, Bishop of Worcester, Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury, later canonised as a saint. His work restored monastic life i ...

and King Edgar installed a community of Benedictine monks on the site. Between 1042 and 1052, King

began rebuilding St Peter's Abbey to provide himself with a royal burial church. It was the first church in England built in the Romanesque style. The building was completed around 1060 and was consecrated on 28 December 1065, only a week before Edward's death on 5 January 1066. A week later, he was buried in the church; and, nine years later, his wife Edith was buried alongside him. His successor, Harold II, was probably crowned in the abbey, although the first documented coronation is that of William the Conqueror later the same year. BayeuxTapestryScene26

The only extant depiction of Edward's abbey, together with the adjacent

, is in the Bayeux Tapestry. Some of the lower parts of the monastic dormitory, an extension of the South Transept, survive in the Norman Undercroft of the Great School, including a door said to come from the previous

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

abbey. Increased endowments supported a community that increased from a dozen monks in Dunstan's original foundation, up to a maximum of about eighty monks.

Local government

Parish of Westminster St Margaret

Most of the parishes of Westminster originated as daughter parishes of

St Margaret's parish ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy ...

, in the

, Middlesex. The exceptions to this were

St Clement Danes St Clement Danes is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London. It is situated outside the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand. Although the first church on the site was reputedly founded in the 9th century by the Danes, the current ...

St Mary le Strand St Mary le Strand is a Church of England church at the eastern end of the Strand in the City of Westminster, London. It lies within the Deanery of Westminster (St Margaret) within the Diocese of London. The church stands on what was until recen ...

and possibly some other small areas. The ancient parish was

St Margaret Saint Margaret, St. Margarets, or St. Margaret's may refer to: People In chronological order: * Saint Margaret the Virgin of Antioch (died 304) * Saint Margaret of Scotland (c. 1045–1093) * Saint Margaret of England (died 1192) * Saint Margare ...

; after 1727 this became the civil parish of 'St Margaret and St John', the latter a new church required for the increasing population. The area around Westminster Abbey formed the extra-parochial Close of the Collegiate Church of St Peter. Like many large parishes, Westminster was divided into smaller units called '' Hamlets'' (meaning a territorial sub-division, rather than a small village). These would later become independent daughter parishes. Until 1900 the local authority was the combined vestry of St Margaret and St John (also known as the

Westminster District Board of Works Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckin ...

from 1855 to 1887), which was based at

Westminster Town Hall Caxton Hall is a building on the corner of Caxton Street and Palmer Street, in Westminster, London, England. It is a Grade II listed building primarily noted for its historical associations. It hosted many mainstream and fringe political and art ...

in Caxton Street from 1883.

City and Liberty of Westminster

The Liberty of Westminster, governed by the Westminster Court of Burgesses, also included

St Martin in the Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the mediev ...

and several other parishes and places. Westminster had its own quarter sessions, but the Middlesex sessions also had jurisdiction.

Metropolitan Borough of Westminster

Westminster City Hall, Victoria Street SW1 - geograph

Under local government reforms in 1889, the area fell within the newly created County of London, and the local government of Westminster was further reformed in 1900, when the court of burgesses and the parish vestries were abolished, and replaced by the

Metropolitan Borough of Westminster The Metropolitan Borough of Westminster was a metropolitan borough in the County of London, England, from 1900 to 1965. City status By royal charter dated 29 October 1900, the borough was granted the title City of Westminster. Westminster had o ...

. The borough was given city status at the same time, allowing it to be known as the

and its council as Westminster City Council. The

and the

were very similar in extent, covering the parts of the wider modern

south of the Oxford Street, and its continuations Hyde Park Place. The exception is that part of

, south of that road, are part of Paddington. Westminster merged with St Marylebone and Paddington in 1965, but the combined area was allowed to keep the title

History

''For a list of street name etymologies for Westminster see

Street names of Westminster This is a list of the etymology of street names in the London district of Westminster. The Westminster area (as distinct from the Council area) has no formally defined boundaries - those utilised here are the generally accepted boundaries of: The ...

Royal seat

Bird Eye Pictures of London Westminster in 1909

The former Thorney Island, the site of Westminster Abbey, formed the historic core of Westminster. The abbey became the traditional venue of the coronations of the

kings and queens of England This list of kings and reigning queens of the Kingdom of England begins with Alfred the Great, who initially ruled Kingdom of Wessex, Wessex, one of the heptarchy, seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which later made up modern England. Alfred styled ...

from that of Harold Godwinson (1066) onwards. From about 1200 the

, near the abbey, became the principal royal residence, a transition marked by the transfer of royal treasury and financial records to Westminster from

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

. Later the palace housed the developing Parliament and England's law courts. Thus London developed two focal points: the City of London (financial/economic) and Westminster (political and cultural). The monarchs moved their principal residence to the

Palace of Whitehall The Palace of Whitehall (also spelt White Hall) at Westminster was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698, when most of its structures, except notably Inigo Jones's Banqueting House of 1622, were destroyed by fire. H ...

(1530–1698), then to

St James's Palace St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, the capital of the United Kingdom. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster in London. Altho ...

in 1698, and eventually to

and other palaces after 1762. The main law courts moved to the Royal Courts of Justice in the late-19th century.

Medieval and Tudor

The settlement grew up around the palace and abbey, as a service area for them. The parish church,

St Margaret's Westminster The Church of St Margaret, Westminster Abbey, is in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, London, England. It is dedicated to Margaret of Antioch, and forms part of a single World Heritage Site with the Palace of Westminst ...

served the wider community of the parish; the servants of the palace and abbey as well as the rural population and those associated with the high status homes developing on the road from the City. The area became larger and in the Georgian period became connected through urban ribbon development with the City along the Strand.

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

's Reformation in the early 16th century abolished the abbey and established a cathedral – thus the parish ranked as a "City", although it was only a fraction of the size of the City of London and the Borough of

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

at that time. Indeed, the cathedral and diocesan status of the church lasted only from 1539 to 1556, but the "city" status remained for a mere parish within Middlesex. As such it is first known to have had two Members of Parliament in 1545 as a new

Parliamentary Borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

, centuries after the City of London and Southwark were enfranchised.

Victorian divide

Charles Booth's poverty map showing Westminster in 1889 recorded the full range of income- and capital-brackets living in adjacent streets within the area; its central western area had become (by 1850) (the) Devil's Acre in the southern flood-channel ravine of the

, yet Victoria Street and other small streets and squares had the highest colouring of social class in London: yellow/gold. Westminster has shed the abject poverty with the clearance of this

slum A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inh ...

and with drainage improvement, but there is a typical

property distinction within the area which is very acute, epitomised by grandiose 21st-century developments, architectural high-point listed buildings and nearby social housing (mostly non-

council housing Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council estates, council housing, or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in so ...

) buildings of the Peabody Trust founded by philanthropist George Peabody.

Wider uses of the name

Given the focus on Westminster in English and British public life over centuries, the name "Westminster" is casually used as a

for the UK Parliament and for the political community of the United Kingdom generally. (The civil service is similarly referred to using the name of the northern sub-neighbourhood which it inhabits, " Whitehall".) "Westminster" is consequently also used in reference to the Westminster system, the parliamentary model of democratic government that has evolved in the United Kingdom and for those other nations, particularly in the Commonwealth of Nations and for other parts of the former British Empire that adopted it. The term "Westminster Village", sometimes used in the context of British politics, does not refer to a geographical area at all; employed especially in the phrase "Westminster Village gossip", it denotes a supposedly close social circle of members of parliament, political journalists, so-called

spin-doctors In public relations and politics, spin is a form of propaganda, achieved through knowingly providing a biased interpretation of an event or campaigning to influence public opinion about some organization or public figure. While traditional publ ...

and others connected to events in the Palace of Westminster and in Government ministries.

Economy

The area has a substantial residential population. By the 20th century Westminster saw rising numbers of residential apartments with wealthy inhabitants. Hotels, large Victorian homes and barracks exist near to

High Commissions

Westminster hosts the High Commissions of many

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

countries: *

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

* The Bahamas * Brunei * Canada * Cyprus *

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

* Ghana * India *

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

* Malaysia * New Zealand * Nigeria * Pakistan * Papua New Guinea * Seychelles * Singapore * South Africa * Trinidad and Tobago * Uganda

Education

Within the area is Westminster School, a major public school which grew out of the abbey, and the University of Westminster, attended by over 20,000 students.

Notable people

Andy Bray Andrew Richard Bray (born 29 October 1981) is an English cricketer. Bray is a right-handed batsman who bowls right-arm fast-medium. Bray represented the Kent Cricket Board in List A cricket. His debut List A match came against the Worcestershi ...

(born 1981), cricketer * Alice Liddell (1852–1934), inspiration for Alice In Wonderland * Ava Gardner (24 December 1922 – 25 January 1990), American actress and singer *

Arthur Barnby Arthur Charles Barnby (10 September 1881 – 30 October 1937) was an English first-class cricketer, who served as an officer in both the Royal Marines and the Royal Naval Air Service. Life and military career Born at Westminster in September ...

(1881–1937), first-class cricketer and Royal Marines/Royal Naval Air Service officer * Richard Colley (1833–1902), first-class cricketer and British Army officer * Geoffrey Cooke (1897–1980), first-class cricketer and British Army officer * John Fuller (1834–1893), first-class cricketer, clergyman and theologian * Hady Ghandour (born 2000), footballer *

Tatiana Hambro Tatiana Katherine Hambro (born 15 October 1989) is an English writer and fashion editor. She worked at ''British Vogue'' before joining Moda Operandi as editorial director. Early life and family Hambro was born on 15 October 1989 in Westmins ...

(born 1989), fashion writer and editor * Tom Hiddleston (born 1981), Golden Globe-winning actor *

Stephanie Leonidas Stephanie Leonidas (born 14 February 1984) is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles in the fantasy film ''MirrorMask'' (2005), the Syfy series ''Defiance (TV series), Defiance'' (2013–2015), and the Crackle (service), Cra ...

(born

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

) - actress *

Dua Lipa Dua Lipa ( , ; born ) is an English and Albanian singer and songwriter. Possessing a mezzo-soprano vocal range, she is known for her signature disco- pop sound. Lipa has received numerous accolades, including six Brit Awards, three Gramm ...

(born 1995), singer and songwriter * Edward Low (1690–1724), pirate during the latter days of the Golden Age of Piracy * Eddie Redmayne (born 1982), Oscar-winning actor *

Quintin Twiss Quintin William Francis Twiss (13 March 1835 – 7 August 1900) was an English first-class cricketer and actor. The son of the politician Horace Twiss, he was born at Westminster in March 1835. Twiss was educated at Westminster School, before g ...

(1835–1900), first-class cricketer and stage actor

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Manchee, W. H. (1924), ''The Westminster City Fathers (the Burgess Court of Westminster) 1585–1901: Being some account of their powers and domestic rule of the City prior to its incorporation in 1901''; with a foreword by Walter G. Bell and 36 illustrations which relate to documents (some pull-outs) and artefacts. London: John Lane (The Bodley Head). * Davies, E. A. (1952), ''An Account of the Formation and Early Years of The Westminster Fire Office''; (Includes black-and-white photographic plates with a colour frontispiece of 'A Waterman' and a foreword by Major K. M. Beaumont. London: Country Life Limited for the Westminster Fire Office. * Hunting, P. (1981), ''Royal Westminster''. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Printed by Penshurst Press. (paper); (cased).

External links

Westminster Borough Council
* ttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21648 Westminster by Sir Walter Besant and Geraldine Edith Mitton and A. Murray Smith, 1902, from Project Gutenberg
Palmer's Village, a deserted village in Westminster
{{Authority control Districts of the City of Westminster Areas of London Market towns in London Districts of London on the River Thames