Westminster abbey, its architecture, history and monuments . fter-noon they came again to meet for prayeruntil six. The chapter house is spacious, complete,rich in the colour of its modern windows,and well-restored. It was built by HenryIII, probably about 1250: but its use as acha:pter house exclusively did not long con-tinue: for in the time of Edward III itbecame the regular meeting-place for theHouse of Commons and so continueduntil, in 1547, they removed to the OldPalace of Westminster. At the Dissolutionof the Monastery in 1540, it passed intothe hands of the Crown and has neverbeen retu
Westminster abbey, its architecture, history and monuments . fter-noon they came again to meet for prayeruntil six. The chapter house is spacious, complete,rich in the colour of its modern windows,and well-restored. It was built by HenryIII, probably about 1250: but its use as acha:pter house exclusively did not long con-tinue: for in the time of Edward III itbecame the regular meeting-place for theHouse of Commons and so continueduntil, in 1547, they removed to the OldPalace of Westminster. At the Dissolutionof the Monastery in 1540, it passed intothe hands of the Crown and has neverbeen returned to the use for which it wasoriginally built. The chapter now meetsin the Jerusalem Chamber. The presentdaily guardians of the chapter house arein the employ, not of the Abbey but of theBritish Government. Between the years1547 and 1865, the house was used asa storehouse for State Records. Itsheight was then divided by a floor: andwooden galleries and cupboards for hold-ing papers almost entirely concealed thebeauty of its arcades. The roof and all 710. The CHAPTEr, House The Cloister and Chapter House the windows but one are modern. In1865, by Dean Stanleys efforts, it wasthoroughly restored.* The room is octagonal, is fifty-eightfeet in diameter (Lincoln is sixty feet andSalisbury fifty-eight feet), and has avaulted roof fifty-six feet high, supportedby a central column. Under this room isa small Norman crypt which belonged tothe Norman chapter house of Edward theConfessors church and was long used asa Royal Treasury. The walls of thechapter house are five feet thick. In sixof the eight sides are large windows, mod-ern copies of the originals, containingmodern glass. A series of beautiful ar-caded stone seats or stalls with trefoiledheads runs below the windows, where themonks sat in chapter: five stalls at the eastend, richer than the others, were for the useof the Abbot, Prior and other officers. Thefine old Tiling is almost unique in Englandin its age, extent and degre
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