EducaƟon Department
Westminster Abbey is a beautiful church full of colour and light. There
are many stained glass windows, painted memorials and the famous
Cosmati Pavement to discover.
Before you go into the Abbey, look at the windows from the
outside. From here they look dark and dull.
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oured d Glass:
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Westminster Abbey has been here for over a 1000 years,
but many of the windows are much newer than that. What
events in London over the years do you think caused the glass to get
broken?
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indow wa ho also
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Go into the Abbey and walk into the middle of the Nave. Stand in
the centre and look back at the Great West Window above the
main door.
When was this window put into the Abbey? (There is a date
on it at the top).
How many people can you see in the window?
The people are important men from the Old Testament in the Bible.
Stained glass windows often show pictures of people or events from
the Bible.
Why do you think this might be? (Clue: People could not always read the Bible.)
Make your way to the North side of the Nave (on the right of the door as you look at it.)
The windows on this side of the Abbey show important people from the history of
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England and Westminster Abbey. Find the window with Edward the Confessor
as
shown here.
What can you tell about Edward from this window?
What two things is he holding?
List the different colours you can see in the window.
Keep looking at the windows until you find the second of two knights in shining armour, King
Henry V.
What animal can you see in the bottom left hand corner of this window?
The window remembers which famous Lord Mayor of London who had one of these
animals? (Clue: Think of pantomimes!) This window remembers him.
Turn and look at the decorated screen in the middle of the Nave.
This screen separates the Nave from the Quire. What colours can you see? The gold you
can see is real gold! On the left hand side of the screen is a monument to the scientist Sir
Isaac Newton. Newton found out that sunlight is made up of all the colours of the
rainbow.
Make up a sentence to help you remember the order of the colours. For example:
Red White
Light
Prism
Richard
Orange Of
Yellow York
Green Gave
Blue Battle
Indigo
In
Violet
Vain
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Walk down the middle of the Nave, around the Altar
and under the screen (remember to look up!) through
into the Quire. Walk forward to stand in front of the
High Altar.
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The area in front of the High Altar is called the Cosmati
Pavement. It is made up of thousands of pieces of coloured
stone and glass.
Draw some of the patterns you can see.
This pa
r
Quire a t of the Abb
e
n
during d it is where y is called th
e
service
the Ch
s.
oir sing
s
The Co
smati p
years o
ld mad avement is o
stones
ver 70
e up o
0
a
f
Queen nd coloured semi-precio
u
s ar e c
g
la
s
s
.
Kings a s
rowned
nd
on it.
From here you can look left and right and see the beautiful stained glass rose
windows in the North and South Transepts.
In the middle of the South Rose Window is a picture of
Jesus. Why do you think this might be a good place to
have his picture?
What is in the middle of the North Rose window?
How many ‘petals’ does the North Rose window have?
dow
se Win
o
R
h
Nort
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Leave the Altar and turn right into the Ambulatory. Look out for the wooden steps
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that lead up to the Shrine of St. Edward. Find the tomb just past the steps
with
some of its decoration missing.
This is the tomb of King Henry III who built much of the
Abbey. Look up high and you will see gold decoration.
What do you think might have happened to the gold
further down?
Continue round to find the brightly coloured tomb of Sir Lewis de Robessart on your left.
When the Abbey was built, it was all brightly painted like this tomb. Over the years,
Christian ideas have changed and churches tend not to be so colourful.
Why do you think some Christians
might think that churches should not
be painted in bright colours?
r is very
e High Alta
th
n
o
n
o
ti
The decora al gold!
re
uses lots of
nd
colourful a
Go up the stairs and into the Lady Chapel. This was built by Henry VII. Look up at the ceiling.
Can you think of some words to describe it?
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The colourful flags and coats of arms belong to knights who are members5 of
the Order of the Bath.
Find a flag you like and draw it here. Make a note of
the colours used so you can colour it in later.
Go to the far end of the chapel and find the stained glass
window which remembers people who fought in the Battle
of Britain in the Second World War.
This window shows the badges of squadrons in the Royal Air Force.
Write down four animals you can see.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Write down the words you can see in the windows at the bottom.
These words are from the play Henry V by William Shakespeare.
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Go down the steps and continue around the Ambulatory. You may wish to visit the
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chapels on either side dedicated to St. Nicholas and St. Edmund. Notice the tombs
of Edward III and Richard II on the right as you go past the shrine.
Continue into the South Transept, Poets’ Corner. Many of the people buried and remembered
here are famous poets and writers.
Find two faint paintings on the back wall. These were painted over 700 years ago!
What colours do you think these paintings were when
they were first done?
Why do you think it is hard to tell the colours now?
This o
n
carries e shows St.
C
People Christ upo hristopher
w
n his
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n
Christo
wear a
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h
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Leave the Abbey and enter the Cloisters.
On the right, at the top of the open windows you can see windows
made
up of bits of old stained glass. Many of the these pieces are from very old windows that
were broken during World War II. If you look carefully you can see faces in the glass.
How may faces can you find? There are two windows like this.
We hope you enjoyed your visit! To leave, follow the signs for the exit via the Great West
Doors.
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