Hello everyone...
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| Hanging in Westminster Hall |
So I just spent the last four days doing my Silver DofE expedition in Wales. I had intended to post this before I left but there wasn't time to finish it. I also have noticed that I have only done one book review this month, although I have read other books so maybe I will post another one today sometime. And can I just say that Wales is such an underrated country. I love hills and mountains (although maybe not climbing them) and Wales has a beautiful skyline. At least, the west coast does. And the forests that we walked through looked like a combination of Narnian forests and the Lord of the Rings. Also, there are so many sheep. And some sheep got loose from their fields and could be seen just walking away along the footpaths, going on their own little expedition. We actually did climb a mountain because we climbed up to 610m above sea level which is when a hill becomes a mountain.
But, back on track. On Saturday, I went to the Houses of Parliament. I have been there before but I went when I was about six or seven and I don't remember much at all except that everything seemed very big and very boring. So I decided to revisit...
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| The Houses of Parliament |
(And also, in front of the Houses of the Parliament, there was a big celebration because on the 15th August, 70 years ago was the day that the Japanese surrendered and World War II officially ended.)
The first part that I saw was Westminster Hall. It is the oldest part of the Houses of Parliament and is about 900 years old, having survived the Great Fire of London. It was originally built by the son of William the Conqueror in 1099 and then it was remodelled by Richard II. When it was built, it was the biggest hall in Britain and possibly Europe as well. There is a huge stained glass window at either end of the hall, which made taking photos really difficult due to the very bright light but the roof is gothic architecture.
On the floor, there are lots of plaques that commemorate different people and historic events, such as St. Thomas More and Winston Churchill. The Queen's mother lay in state there before her burial and various people were acquitted of crimes as the law courts were there for 700 years before they were moved to the Royal Courts of Justice. Lots of famous trials took place there. For instance, William Wallace was a Scottish nobleman who fought against Edward I. He was captured in 1305 and tried in Westminster Hall. He pleaded innocent by saying, 'I cannot be a traitor for I owed him no allegiance. He is not my sovereign. He never received my homage.' But he was hung, drawn and quartered.
St. Thomas More was also tried here because he would not agree that Henry VIII was the head of the Church of England. He was sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered as well but was then beheaded instead.
And also, King Charles I was tried here, after losing the English Civil War between the Parliamentarians and Royalists before being beheaded. Oliver Cromwell ruled England until he died and King Charles II took over again. It was the only time that England ever had a Republic.
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| Terrible lighting :/ |
The next place that I saw was St. Stephen's Chapel where the members of the House of Commons used to meet. After the Great Fire of London, St. Stephen's Chapel was destroyed and so the one that I saw on Saturday was rebuilt on the site of the original with the same layout and design. It is a very small place with limited places for the members of the House of Commons to sit and so it was very crowded when it was used. It was also the place of the first recorded smoking ban at the end of the seventeenth century.
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| This is Lord Mansfield. He was Lord Chief Justice from the years 1756-1788 and he was closely involved in the Zong case, when slave traders threw slaves overboard because they were going to get more money if they were dead, insured cargo than if they were sold in the slave market. This is the case in the film Belle. |
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| This is Pitt the Younger. He was the Prime Minister while William Wilberforce was fighting to abolish the slave trade |
And then photography was forbidden, so I can only write about it.
I saw the Central Lobby next. The Central Lobby connects the chamber of the House of Lords with the chamber of the House of Commons. It is the place where the public can ask to speak to their MPs. The architectural style was of medieval gothic architecture. After the Great Fire of London, a competition was held to gather designs for the rebuilding of this room, as it was destroyed in the fire. There was 97 entries and Charles Barry won. Also, because it is in the centre of the Houses of Parliament and therefore, in the centre of the United Kingdom's government, above each of the four doors leading out of the room was a mosaic of the patron saint of each of the four countries in the UK: St George for England, St Andrew for Scotland, St Patrick for Ireland and Saint David for Wales. Furthermore, there were lots of statues around of different monarchs because Charles Barry wanted lots of statues.
Finally, no parliamentarian business can happen in the House of Lords or House of Commons unless a mace is present to show the power of the monarch. The sergeant of arms, someone who is royally appointed, carries the mace to the House of Common everyday.
Next came the Peers Lobby, which is the room before the House of Lords. It is decorated in red because that is the colour of the House of Lords whereas green is the colour of the House of Commons. Apparently, according to one of the peers (members) in the House of Lords, the House of Lords is listened to by the government because they are more driven by the issues of the country, rather than party political concerns. 200 peers are independent Lords that have been made so because they are great in their own respective fields.
The Not Content Lobby is used when the House of Lords has a difficult decision to make. This is one of the places where the votes are cast. Because there are more members of the House of Lords than seats available, the peers walk through the lobby and separate into the 'yes' area, which means they agree with the motion being put forward or the 'no' area, which means that they don't agree with the motion. Their vote is recorded by a clark. It is also the area of many debates because there never is an overall majority after a motion is proposed.
The Prince's Chamber had two doors. One led to the chamber of the House of Lords and one led to the Royal Gallery. The Prince's Chamber was definitely a Tudor room. The Tudor kings and queens with their spouses were painted on wooden panels at the top of the room. Katherine of Aragon was painted as Arthur's wife, even though Arthur was never king. It is also here that the Lords can review their notes before entering their chamber to discuss things. There is a huge statue of the young Queen Victoria on one side of the room and along the top of the room, there are a lot of paintings that depict the defeat of the Spanish Armada. They were completed in 2010 but before that there were tapestries that depicted the same thing.
The Royal Gallery is used for state occasions and addresses from various heads of state to both the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Apparently, it is also used for informal discussions between members of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The original plan for decoration of the Royal Gallery was to have lots of murals of British military victories but that plan fell through and now there are only two: the Battle of Waterloo (which didn't take place at Waterloo and was only called that because of the name of Wellington's HQ) and the Battle of Trafalgar. There are lots of pictures of monarchs on the walls and their spouses. For example, Queen Elizabeth I is there along with Prince Phillip.
The Norman Porch is just a corridor that links the Robing Room to the Royal Gallery. There are lots of busts of Prime Ministers who were also members of the House of Lords and it is below the Victorian Tower where Parliament's archives are held. There are some real important documents in there. For instance, the death warrant of King Charles I and every law passed ever. The longest law is on a parchment roll that is 350 meters long and is it the 1821 Land Tax Act.
The Robing Room should be called Queen Victoria's room because it was full of stuff for Queen Victoria. On one side of the room was a throne that was made for her when Prince Albert died. There are huge portraits of her and Albert next to each other above the throne as well. At the State Opening of Parliament, which is an annual event held each year, this is where the sovereign dresses. Apparently, the State Opening of Parliament is the only time the three parts of the government, the sovereign, House of Lords and House of Commons are together. When the chamber of the House of Commons was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, they used the chamber of the House of Lords and the House of Lords met in the Robing Room.
Wow, there is a lot of writing today. Bear with me. It is almost finished. The Chamber of the House of Lords. It is quite a strange room in that it is very traditional with a lot of old red leather benches and the 'wool sack' where the speaker sits but then there are also lots of modern features that really clash with everything else. There are televisions because the activity of the House of Lords started to be televised in 1985. There was an amazing throne that was covered in gold leaf and that is used when the sovereign reads an address at the State Opening of Parliament to outline what will happen in that year.
I'll jump straight to the Chamber of the House of Common. Just in front of it is the Members Gallery where there are statues of Prime Ministers like Churchill, Thatcher, Lloyd George and Asquith and then connecting the two is the Commons Corridor where there are pictures from the Glorious Revolution. I am not sure what that is but you can look it up. The Chamber is all in green with benches and a big chair in the centre where the speaker sits. S/he checks that there is order and s/he chairs debates. Government parties sit on the left and opposite parties on the right. The Prime Minister sits on the front bench with his ministers around him. At the back of the room, there were the shields of members of the House of Commons who have been killed during military service or died during a terrorist attack.
Okay, I am done. Done and dusted. I probably could have said a lot more but I think that it would have got boring so I will stop there.
Clare
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