Big Ben and The Palace of Westminster

The Palace was the residence of the Kings of England from the eleventh to the sixteenth century. In Medieval England Kings simply summoned their courts to wherever they happened to be, but by the fourteenth century the judicial and parliamentary courts resided in Westminster. Though the Lords resided in the Palace, they had no permanent meeting place until 1547 when the Royal Chapel of St. Stephen was given to the commons.

In 1834 almost the entire Palace of Westminster was destroyed by fire, with only Westminster hall, the Crypt of St. Stephens Chapel, the cloisters and Jewel Tower surviving the blaze. Westminster Hall and the remains of St. Stephens where then incorporated into the new Houses of Parliament, a building designed by Sir Charles Barry that took more than thirty years to construct.

The Houses of Parliament were hit by an air raid during the Second World War and the House of Commons Chamber was destroyed. The Chamber has since been rebuilt in the image of the original. The houses of Parliament contains one thousand rooms, eleven court yards, eight bars and six restaurants- though none are opened to the public. Members of the public can watch a session of parliament by either the Lords or the Commons from the public gallery.