St Stephen's Chapel

Houses of Parliament FREE exhibition

Parliament in the Making: St Stephen’s Chapel

This is the story of a great lost building at the Palace of Westminster. In the middle ages, St Stephen’s was among the most magnificent royal chapels in Europe. Under the Tudors, it became the first permanent home of the House of Commons, and remained so for nearly three centuries.

Exhibition at Opening hours Access Westminster Hall Monday to Friday Cromwell Green, 30 June 2015 – 10:00am – 17:00pm visitor entrance, 5 November 2015 Saturday Palace of Westminster 10:00am – 17:00pm During normal public access times

www.york.ac.uk www.parliament.uk

Queen Philippa of Hainault, wife of Edward III, by George Nayler, York Herald, watercolour, 287 x 210 mm, c.1800, copy of a painting on the east wall of St Stephen’s Chapel, made originally in the 1350s (Society of Antiquaries of London, Red Portfolio 236/E, SSC 17.4). By kind permission of the Society of Antiquaries of London. Plan showing Westminster Hall, St Stephen’s Hall and the cloister, at principal floor level, H.M. Office of Works, 1902. You are here © Parliamentary Estates Directorate Archive.

Westminster Hall

St Stephen’s Chapel Cloister and the House of Commons

St Stephen’s Hall ‘We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.’ The Rt Hon. Sir Winston Churchill, MP

This exhibition is about an exceptional Over time, oppositional politics developed building in the political life of the nation, within this historic arrangement. After one that has stood at the centre of a fire in 1834, which destroyed the old government for over 700 years. During House of Commons, the same layout the middle ages, St Stephen’s Chapel was was maintained in the new chamber, the most splendid place of worship in and survives today. the Palace of Westminster. Remodelled The exhibition is part of the project ‘St by 1550, the building became the first Stephen’s Chapel, Westminster: Visual permanent meeting place for the House and Political Culture, 1292-1941’, funded of Commons. by the Arts and Humanities Research A major research project is exploring Council, and led by the University of the ways in which St Stephen’s shaped York, in partnership with the Houses of and was shaped by its changing functions. Parliament. For further details: This is important because the layout www.virtualststephens.org.uk of the medieval chapel was retained, A virtual model of St Stephen’s, as it in some respects, for the House changed through time, will be freely of Commons. The nave became the lobby available to the public on the website in and the choir the debating chamber. In early 2016. the position of the former choir stalls, there were facing benches. The plan shows where you are standing, in Westminster Hall, and the original site of St Stephen’s Chapel (today occupied by St Stephen’s Hall) in gold.

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Westminster Hall

Cloister

St Stephen’s Hall

1. A partial reconstruction of the medieval chapel, made by the Centre for the Study of Christianity and Culture at the University of York

2. Oliver the Protector Dissolving the Long Parliament, etching and engraving, 246 x 281 mm, c.1653 (British Museum, mus. no. 1868,0808.3254). © The Trustees of the British Museum

3. The House of Commons today, looking towards the Speaker’s chair (Image 261). 3 © Parliamentary Estates Directorate Archive. The Medieval Chapel At the heart of the medieval Palace of Westminster, St Stephen’s was central to royal worship, ceremonial and government.

First mentioned in 1184, St Stephen’s The chapel was finished by Edward III lay between the great and lesser halls, (1327-1377), who established a new and was linked to the quarters of the college of canons to serve it in 1348. Plantagenet kings of England. Many of The interior is recorded to have been the clergy who served in the chapel were exceptionally magnificent, in furnishings, both priests and royal servants, involved painting and gilding. Over 70,000 foils of in administration, diplomacy and politics. gold leaf were purchased for it between June 1351 and September 1352 alone. In 1292, a new two-storey chapel in Edward’s family featured prominently in the Gothic style was begun by Edward the paintings, recorded by antiquaries in I (1272-1307). The leading masons were the early 19th century. Michael and Thomas of Canterbury, perhaps father and son. The names of The cloister of the college, built by the these and hundreds of other craftsmen last dean John Chambre, survives. So are recorded in surviving building too does the lower chapel, in an altered accounts, held today in The National state. The upper chapel, now lost, is Archives. The innovative decorative being reconstructed virtually. character of the building, including the panelling of the exterior walls, anticipated features of later English medieval architecture.

R. Smirke, Edward III and his sons, led by St George, reconstruction of paintings on the east wall of the chapel, made originally in the 1350s, tempera and gold leaf, on paper, 830 x 1160 mm, c.1800. By kind permission of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

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4. H. Reinhart (after H. Holbein the Younger), Portrait of John Chambre, Dean of St Stephen’s (1514-1548), oil on panel, 64 x 47 cm (Merton College, Oxford, MCPo/61). © The Warden and Fellows of Merton College.

5. J. Carter, exterior of the south side of St Stephen’s Chapel, pen and ink, on paper, 370 x 546 mm, c.1795 (Society of Antiquaries of London, Red Portfolio 236/E, SSC 5). By kind permission of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

6. The west range of the canons’ cloister, on the north side of the chapel, first quarter 16th century, photographed c.1900 (PIC/N/FAR 646). © Parliamentary Archives.

7. J. Dixon, eastern bay on the north side of St Stephen’s Chapel, pen and ink, on paper, 945 x 603 mm, c.1800 (Society of Antiquaries of London, Red Portfolio 236/E, SSC 15). By kind permission of the Society of 7 Antiquaries of London. The House of Commons After the dissolution of the college of St Stephen in 1548, the former chapel became the permanent home of the House of Commons.

From the river, the House of Commons The west end (or nave) of the chapel was prominent on the Westminster became the lobby, with a committee skyline, as shown in a print by room above it. The chamber itself was Wenceslaus Hollar. The interior was too small to accommodate all MPs, described by John Hooker, the and had poor acoustics, ventilation and Elizabethan MP for Exeter, as: ‘made like lighting. This cramped room was the a Theatre, having four rows of seats, one setting for the dramatic events of the above the other’. Just like today, there Long Parliament, and confrontation was a seat reserved for the Speaker and with Charles I (1625-1649). When the a table for clerks to record debates. Commons needed to redesign the Great Seal after the king’s execution, they chose

The Great Seal of England, 1651, the to depict themselves in debate here. second seal used by the Commonwealth, showing the House of Commons in There were attempts to improve session (British Library). conditions in the chamber, but in 1678 © British Library Board. the king’s surveyor Christopher Wren All Rights Reserved/Bridgeman Images. reported ‘the weakness and craziness of the roof’. As a result, in 1692, he lowered it, also inserting galleries with new seating, and panelling. There were further changes in 1707, to accommodate Scottish MPs, as a result of the Act of Union. These are shown in a painting by Peter Tillemans.

1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000 2015 W. Hollar, Ciuitatis Westmonasteriensis pars, etching, 141 x 270 mm, dated 1647 (WOA 845). © Palace of Westminster Collection

P. Tillemans, The House of Commons in Session, oil on canvas, 137.2 x 123.2 cm, c.1710 (WOA 2737). © Palace of Westminster Collection After the 1834 Fire Fire destroyed much of the old Palace of Westminster on 16 October 1834, including the old House of Commons. On this site, the architect of the new palace Charles Barry established St Stephen’s Hall. The structure was of similar dimensions, The lower chapel of St Mary Undercroft but with different architectural detail. had survived the fire. It was redecorated It was to be the principal entrance for by Edward Barry, Charles Barry’s son. visitors. For this ‘hall of patriots’, twelve The luxurious Byzantine-style decoration marble statues of statesmen who had derives from St Mark’s Basilica in Venice. spoken in the old House of Commons The chapel is known as a ‘Royal Peculiar’ were completed in 1858. William Pitt of H.M. the Queen, and is used regularly the Younger is shown here. St Stephen’s for services and concerts. Hall survives today and can be visited at the other end of Westminster Hall from where you are standing. The walls of St Stephen’s Hall are decorated with paintings depicting Britain growing ‘from a group of tribal states to a world-wide Commonwealth’. Two large mosaics by Robert Anning Bell, including King Edward III Commands the Rebuilding of St Stephen’s Chapel, were completed in the 1920s. A. W. N. Pugin designed the medieval-style tiles that cover the floor; they have recently been renewed. The coats of arms in the stained glass windows commemorate parliamentary constituencies in the 1850s, whilst newer glass shows the long struggle towards

votes-for-all. Suffragettes staged protests 8 in both St Stephen’s Hall and the chapel below. 9

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8. St Stephen’s Hall, during decoration, Illustrated London News, 12 February 1853 (WOA 5277). © Palace of Westminster Collection

9. P. MacDowell, Pitt [William Pitt the Younger], marble, St Stephen’s Hall (WOA S70). © Palace of Westminster Collection

Detail from H. W. Pickersgill, Detail from J. R. Herbert, R. A. Bell, King Edward III Commands the Portrait of Sir Charles Barry, Portrait of A. W. N. Pugin, Rebuilding of St Stephen’s Chapel, mosaic, RA, oil on canvas, 144.8 x oil on canvas, 90 x 70 cm, St Stephen’s Hall, 1926 (WOA 4259). 111.8 cm (WOA 2729). 1845 (WOA 2586). © Palace of Westminster Collection © Palace of Westminster © Palace of Westminster Collection Collection Exhibition design, content and installation

Project leaders Alison Baker and Dr Mark Collins (Parliamentary Estates Directorate – Palace of Westminster) Exhibition Text Professor Tim Ayers and Dr James Jago – University of York Dr Mark Collins - Palace of Westminster Exhibition Design Gary Egleton Exhibition Graphic Design Pat O’Leary Environmental Graphics Exhibition Installation MER Services Ltd Graphic Panel Production Danny Bianchet MJ Group 3D Computer Modelling The Centre for Study of Christianity and Culture – University of York

Special thanks to: The Society of Antiquaries, London The Warden and Fellows of Merton College, Oxford The Trustees of the British Museum, London Curator’s Office, House of Commonswww.parliament.uk/art Central Tours Office, House of Commons Print Services, Houses of Parliament

To follow progress on the virtual reconstruction of St Stephen’s that is currently on display in Westminster Hall visit: www.virtualststephens.org.uk

Cover illustration shows the old Palace of Westminster in 1647 with the former St Stephen’s Chapel, by now converted to the House of Commons Chamber, entitled: ‘Parlament House’ (sic). Westminster Hall and Westminster Abbey are shown to its right. (Etching by Wenceslaus Hollar, WOA 845)