Multimedia Mania/abacus-multimedia-mania.iso/dp/0054/00544.txt

Text File | 1993-07-27 | 22KB | 368 lines

$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.