$Unique_ID{bob00544} $Pretitle{} $Title{United Kingdom The Houses of Parliament} $Subtitle{} $Author{Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington DC} $Affiliation{Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington DC} $Subject{house parliament palace chamber commons westminster lords hall members chapel} $Date{1990} $Log{} Title: United Kingdom Book: Facts about the United Kingdom Author: Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington DC Affiliation: Embassy of the United Kingdom, Washington DC Date: 1990 The Houses of Parliament The British Houses of Parliament - the House of Lords and the House of Commons - occupy the site of a former royal palace, the Palace of Westminster, which was the principal residence of the kings of England from the middle of the eleventh century to 1512. Little remains of the original buildings except Westminster Hall, begun by William II in 1970 and enlarged by Richard II at the end of the fourteenth century. The official title of the building remains the Palace of Westminster and certain parts continue to be controlled directly by the Queen's representative, the Lord Great Chamberlain. Parliament derives in part from the Great Council which kings of England, from Saxon times onwards, periodically consulted. In medieval times the king summoned to his court, wherever he might happen to be, a more or less arbitrary selection of Lords (both secular and ecclesiastical) to consider grants of money and to discuss affairs of State. From the thirteenth century it became increasingly usual also to summon representatives or `knights' of the shires and also representatives or `burgesses' from many towns. In 1332 these two groups of knights and burgesses began to meet together, and at about this time a separate representative House originated. The name `Commons' refers not to `the common people' but to the local communities in counties and towns. By the end of the fourteenth century the Court in all its aspects - administrative, judicial and parliamentary - had its headquarters at Westminster. Although the Lords were from the first accommodated in the Palace, the Commons had no permanent meeting place of their own until the Chantries Act of 1547 abolished all private chapels, of which the most splendid, the Royal Chapel of St Stephen within the Palace of Westminster, had been founded by Edward I and finished by Edward III. This chapel, being no longer used for worship, was handed over to the Commons, who had until this time met in either the chapter house or refectory of Westminster Abbey; they then assembled in St Stephen's until 1834 when the Palace was burned down. The fire of 1834 destroyed almost the whole of the Palace of Westminster, except Westminster Hall, the crypt of St Stephen's chapel, the adjacent cloisters, and the Jewel Tower. The present Houses of Parliament were built during the succeeding three decades. The Original Buildings Westminster Hall, the second largest surviving medieval hall, unsupported by pillars, in Europe, is the oldest remaining part of the Palace. It is 73 m long, 21 m wide and 28 m high (240 ft x 68 ft x 92 ft) at its central apex. Its most outstanding feature is the hammer-beam roof, one of the finest pieces of wood-carving in Britain. Westminster Hall was the great hall of the former royal Palace of Westminster and the site of a number of early parliaments, including the first true parliament, summoned by Simon de Montfort in 1265, the first at which town burgesses as well as Lords were represented. From the twelfth to the nineteenth centuries the Hall was principally used as the regular meeting place for the Courts of Justice, and was the scene of many celebrated events in Britain's history. These include the state trials of Sir Thomas More in 1535, of Guy Fawkes and the other Gunpowder Plot conspirators in 1606, and of Charles I in 1649; the depositions of Edward II (1327), Richard II (1399) and Henry VI (1461); and the proclamation of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector in 1653. The Hall was also used for great state ceremonies and coronation banquets from the reign of Stephen in the early twelfth century to that of George IV in the early nineteenth. In more recent times it has been used for the lying-in-state of monarchs: Edward VII in 1910, George V in 1936, and George VI in 1952, and of statesmen: W.E. Gladstone in 1898 and Sir Winston Churchill in 1965. The Hall is used today for major public ceremonial events, particularly those where members of both Houses of Parliament need to be seated together. In 1977 it was the site of the presentation of the Loyal Addresses of Parliament to Queen Elizabeth II to mark her Silver Jubilee. The Crypt. On ground level beneath St Stephen's Hall is another relic of the ancient Palace, the Chapel St Mary Undercroft. Although the fire of 1834 destroyed the upper chapel of St Stephen's, the lower `crypt' chapel escaped serious damage. It was built between 1292 and 1297, and from 1348 was served by a college of canons. After the dissolution of the college in 1547 the crypt was used for a variety of secular purposes, including use at different times as a stable, a coal cellar, and, for many years, as the Speaker's State Dining Rooms. In the mid-nineteenth century it was restored, with elaborate gilding and painting, by Edward Barry, son of Sir Charles Barry, the architect of the rebuilt Palace, to provide a chapel for the members of the two Houses. The Cloisters of St Stephen's Chapel, to the east of Westminster Hall, were built in two storeys between 1526 and 1529. Both storeys, which are noted for their fan-vaulted ceilings, were restored on their original lines after the fire of 1834 and again after bomb damage in 1940. The storeys are connected by a wide staircase which provides the usual entrance for members to the House of Commons. Three sides of the lower storey are used as writing-rooms for members; the upper storey is used as a cloakroom. The Jewel Tower, which stands opposite the Victoria Tower on the far side of Old Palace Yard, was built in 1365 to house the jewels and other personal treasures of the king. By 1621 it was in use as a repository for parliamentary records and remained part of the Parliament Office until 1864 when the records were transferred to the Victoria Tower. The Jewel Tower was restored in 1948-56. The Rebuilt Houses of Parliament With the exception of the Commons Chamber, which was rebuilt after its destruction by air attack in 1941, the present Houses of Parliament are the work of the architect Sir Charles Barry and his assistant Augustus Welby Pugin. Barry's design, which incorporated Westminster Hall and the remains of St Stephen's Chapel, covers an area of over 3 hectares (8 acres) and cost some 2 million Pounds to build and furnish (about the same sum needed to rebuild the Commons Chamber alone between 1948 and 1951). It is a striking example of neo-Gothic architecture, designed specifically to harmonise with the thirteenth-century Gothic style of Westminster Abbey across the road. The whole Palace is lavishly decorated both inside and out with the monogram VR (Victoria Regina - Latin for Queen Victoria, in whose reign the rebuilding was carried out), and with emblems of historic connections of the British royal family: the Tudor Rose, the pomegranate, the lily and the portcullis: the portcullis has become the emblem of the two Houses of Parliament. Much of the elaborate detail of the building, including the fittings and furniture, was the work of Pugin. The approach to the Central Lobby of the Palace is through St Stephen's Hall (a passageway built on the site of the chapel and above the restored crypt) from St Stephen's Porch at the southern end of Westminster Hall. The present St Stephen's Hall was built by Sir Charles Barry after the fire of 1834. It is a reconstruction of the chapel which stood on this site from 1348 and which for nearly 300 years served as the Chamber of the House of Commons. Marble statues of eminent parliamentarians line the walls; these include Charles James Fox, William Pitt the Younger, and Sir Robert Walpole, regarded as Britain's first Prime Minister. There are wooden seats along each side of the hall for members of the public waiting to go in to hear debates. Brass studs let into the floor mark the position of the original Speaker's Chair and the Table of the House. The Central Lobby, a large octagonal hall, is the centrepiece of the entire building. Members of the public calling to see their Members of Parliament (MPs) await their arrival in this lobby. From the Central Lobby, corridors lead northward to the House of Commons Lobby and Chamber and southward to the House of Lords. Beyond the House of Lords are to be found the ceremonial rooms used at the State Opening of Parliament - the Queen's Robing Room and the Royal Gallery - reached by a separate entrance under the Victoria Tower. To the north of the House of Commons are the Speaker's and Serjeant at Arms' residences and various offices for ministers and officials and beyond them is the Clock Tower housing Big Ben, the famous hour bell which came into operation in 1859 and which weighs 13.7 tonnes (13.5 tons). The celebrated chime of the four quarter bells which precedes the striking of the hour is said to be based on a phrase from Handel's Messiah. A lantern shines in the top of the Clock Tower when either House is sitting at night and is extinguished when the Speaker leaves the Commons Chamber. When Parliament is sitting, the Union Flag (the country's national flag) flies from the top of the Victoria Tower from 10.00 until sunset, and when the Sovereign is present the flag is replaced by the Royal Standard (the Sovereign's personal flag). The Victoria Tower, which is one of the highest masonry towers in Europe and one of the three focal points of the roof of the Palace of Westminster, is now the repository for some 3 million parliamentary records, nearly all of which may be consulted by the public in the House of Lords Record Office. The 11 Palace courtyards lie to each side of the central buildings, separating them from the libraries, dining rooms and committee rooms on the east fronting the River Thames, and, on the west, from Westminster Hall and offices. The Speaker's residence is in the north-eastern corner of the Palace; New Palace Yard and the Members' Entrance lie to the north-west. The existing buildings contain nearly 1,200 rooms, 100 staircases and over 3 km (2 miles) of passages. Additional accommodation for the use of the House of Commons has been built in Star Chamber Court to the west of the Commons Chamber, and for the House of Lords in a similar building in the St Stephen's and State Officers' Courts. The House of Commons also uses other buildings in the vicinity, including two seven-storey red-brick buildings designed by the Victorian architect, Norman Shaw, which were the former headquarters of the Metropolitan Police (known as New Scotland Yard) on Victoria Embankment. Plans for additional parliamentary buildings to the north across Bridge Street are now well advanced and construction work is expected to start in 1987 for completion in 1990. The public entrance to the Palace of Westminster is through St Stephen's Entrance in Old Palace Yard. The royal entrance is through the archway of the Victoria Tower, up the Royal Staircase, at the top of which is the Norman Porch which serves as an ante-room to the Robing Room; this opens onto the Royal Gallery, a processional room through which the Sovereign walks to the opening of Parliament. The Royal Gallery has been used for a number of parliamentary ceremonies and, in particular, for the reception of visiting statesmen and distinguished visitors. Among those who have addressed both Houses of Parliament here are Field Marshall Smuts in 1942; Prime Minister Kosygin of the Soviet Union in 1965; President Giscard d'Estaing of France in 1976; President Reagan of the United States in 1982 and the King of Spain and President von Weizsacher of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1986. The House of Lords The Lords Chamber, the masterpiece of the rebuilt Palace, is more properly, if rarely, described as the Parliament Chamber, for it was primarily designed to provide accommodation for the Sovereign and both Houses when they met together for the State Opening. It was first occupied in 1847. The Chamber is 24 m long, 14 m wide and 14 m high (80 ft x 45 ft x 45 ft). At its southern end is the Throne from which the Queen reads her speech at the opening of Parliament; it is raised on steps which, when the House is sitting, are used as seats by Privy Counsellors and the eldest sons of peers as well as by members of the House of Lords. Before the Throne is the red cushion known as the Woolsack (a relic from medieval times when wool was the chief source of the country's wealth). Here the Lord Chancellor sits as Speaker of the House of Lords, and in front are two similar woolsacks, used by judges at the opening of Parliament, and the Table of the House at which the Clerks sit. The Mace, a silver gilt ornamental club of some 1.5 m (5 ft) in length, symbolises the royal authority delegated to the House and is laid on the Woolsack behind the Lord Chancellor whenever the House is sitting, except at the State Opening of Parliament when the Sovereign is present in person. The House of Lords has two maces, one dating from the time of Charles II and the other from the time of William III. The lords' benches, upholstered in red leather, are arranged on both sides of the House in five rows divided into three blocks; the Government benches are on the right of the Throne, and the Opposition benches on the left. (Red, the traditional colour of royalty, has been the principal colour for upholstery in the Lords since at least the beginning of the sixteenth century.) The first two benches in the first block on the Government side are reserved for bishops. Facing the Woolsack below the Table are the cross-benches, which are used by members who do not adhere to the main parties. There are about 1,175 members of the House (26 being bishops of the Church of England, the remainder peers who have either had a peerage conferred on them or succeeded to a hereditary peerage), and in the course of the year some 800 attend, with a daily average of 320. The benches provide accommodation for some 300. The lobbies in which the lords record their votes are on either side of the chamber. The galleries on either side of the chamber are reserved for diplomats and `Distinguished Strangers', and the gallery at the northern end for reporters and other members of the public. Sound broadcasting of the proceedings of Parliament began in April 1978 and a televised broadcasting experiment of proceedings in the Lords began in early 1985; in May 1986 the House authorised the televising to continue. The broadcasting authorities' commentary box in the House of Lords is in the central part of the Press Gallery. The Commons Chamber When the House of Commons chamber was rebuilt after the second world war, care was taken to preserve essential features of Barry's building. However, the architect, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, introduced many improvements in the accommodation and amenities; additional offices and better heating and ventilation were provided, and access to all parts of the House was improved. The new chamber was completed in 1950; much of its furniture was given by countries of the Commonwealth. Barry's entrance to the chamber; rescued from the rubble, was re-erected, still in its damaged state, and is known as the Churchill Arch. The chamber, like that of the House of Lords, is rectangular in shape, and its form, size and arrangement reflect the site of the Chapel in which it was originally housed. The Chamber is 21 m long, 14 m wide and 14 m high (68 ft x 45.5 ft x 46 ft). The Speaker's Chair stands on steps at the north end, and in front of it is the Table of the House at which the Clerk of the House and his two assistant sit. (They are experts on, and the Speaker's advisers in, all matters concerning procedure.) At the head of the Table, whenever the House is sitting, rests the Mace of silver gilt, dating from the reign of Charles II, which, like the one used in the Lords, symbolises the royal authority delegated to the House. The benches for members, upholstered in green leather, run the length of the chamber on both sides, facing each other across a broad gangway known as the `floor of the House'. (Green has been the principal colour for furnishing and fabrics throughout the Commons since at least the mid-seventeenth century.) The benches to the right of the Speaker are used by the Government and its supporters; those to his left are occupied by the Opposition and members of any other parties. (When the Government has a very large majority some of its supporters may sit on the Opposition side of the Chamber.) The front bench on the Government side, known as the Treasury Bench, seats the Prime Minister and other ministers, while the front bench facing it seats the spokesmen for the Opposition. There is no rostrum in the chamber; except for ministers and spokesmen for the Opposition who speak from the dispatch box placed on their side of the Table, members speak from wherever they have been sitting. On each side of the carpet running the length of the aisle is a red stripe, representing the point beyond which no member may step when addressing the House. The distance between the stripes is reputed to be that of two drawn swords. As in the old chamber, seating accommodation for members in the new chamber falls short of the total membership (650) of the House. The reason for this is, primarily, to maintain the sense of intimacy traditional to the House of Commons. There are seats for 346 members on the benches and 91 in the centre side galleries. The floor of the Chamber is overlooked by a series of galleries running around all four sides. The gallery above and behind the Speaker's Chair is known as the Press Gallery and is reserved for the official reporters who record for Hansard (the daily verbatim report of proceedings), and representatives of the British and foreign press, the British Broadcasting Corporation, and the Independent Television and Radio News. Opposite the Speaker's Chair is the Strangers' Gallery, open to the general public and seating some 200 people, and there are also smaller galleries for peers, distinguished visitors and diplomats. Proceedings in the House of Commons may be broadcast on radio, the broadcasting authorities' commentary box being on the floor of the House beneath the public gallery. Recorded extracts of proceedings are used in news and current affairs programmes on radio and television. Occasions of major national interest, for example, the Budget, may also be broadcast live. Debates on televising proceedings in the House of Commons have taken place on several occasions and, most recently, in November 1985, the House voted against televising. The lobbies into which members pass to record their votes when a division is called are on the eastern and western sides of the chamber. Members wishing to vote for a motion pass into the lobby on the right of the Speaker; those wishing to vote against it, into the lobby on his left. Control of the Palace of Westminster Control of the Palace of Westminster and its precincts, for centuries exercised by the Lord Great Chamberlain, passed to the two Houses of Parliament by agreement with the Crown in 1965. The accommodation and services in that part of the Palace and precincts occupied by or on behalf of the House of Commons are controlled by the Speaker, advised by a select committee - the Select Committee on House of Commons (Services). In the House of Lords control is vested in the Lord Chancellor, who has handed over his responsibility to a similar committee. Control of Westminster Hall and the Crypt Chapel is vested jointly in the Lord Great Chamberlain, representing the Queen, the Lord Chancellor and the Speaker of the House of Commons. The Lord Great Chamberlain retains his functions on royal occasions, and the Queen's Robing Room, with the staircase and ante-room adjoining, and the Royal Gallery remain under his control. The day-to-day management of Westminster Hall and the Crypt Chapel is vested in the Department of the Environment, which is responsible for the fabric of the Palace and for its upkeep. Under the direction of Parliament, it carries out any extension or alteration that may be necessary, and provides furnishings, fuel and lighting. Admission to the Houses of Parliament Sittings of the Houses of Parliament. Visitors wishing to watch the proceedings from the Strangers' Gallery of either House should either obtain tickets well in advance from an MP or else join the appropriate queue outside St Stephen's Entrance. It is generally easiest to get into the House of Commons between 18.00 and 22.30 (or about 9.30 on Fridays). Overseas visitors may apply to their Embassy or High Commission for cards of introduction for admission at or shortly after 14.30. When in session, the House of Commons sits from 14.30 on Mondays to Thursdays and 9.30 on Fridays. The House of Lords sits from 14.30 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and most Mondays, from 15.00 on Thursdays and from 11.00 on Fridays at times of the year when business is heavy. The Palace of Westminster and Westminster Hall are open at present only to parties organised by Members of Parliament or Peers. House of Lords Office is open for members of the public to consult the records of Parliament between 9.30 and 17.00 on weekdays. Prior appointments are advisable.