Westminster Abbey: the Crossing
The history and architecture of Westminster Abbey have been studied by many scholars, and one might be forgiven for supposing that we know everything there is to know about this great building. But that is far from being the case, and several key features of the Abbey’s architecture have disappeared, or have never been completed according to the intentions of their designer. The lantern tower, punctuating the point at which the four arms of the church meet (the crossing), is a case in point. It has a long and extraordinarily complex history. What we see emerging from the roof today is merely the stump of a great architectural feature that has never been completed. [1] Neither its date of construction, nor the reason for its abandonment, has been satisfactorily demonstrated. However, there can be little doubt that it was intended to be a worthy successor to the two previous lantern towers that are known to have existed.
No attempt has hitherto been made to write the history of the crossing tower, but in order to understand the historical and architectural significance of the existing lantern – and to assess what might possibly be done in the future to enhance or complete it – it is first necessary to elucidate how the structure arrived at its present form. That is the result of multiple interventions over a period of 950 years.
1 The modern roofscape of Westminster Abbey: aerial view from the south-west. © English Heritage Photo Library