Lambeth Palace

Lambeth Palace has been the official residence of the Archbishops of Canterbury since 1207, when it was called Lambeth House and was the home of Stephen Langton (c. 1157-1228). The oldest surviving part of the palace is the crypt, which dates from the 13th century; the chapel was built soon afterwards. The palace has been extended and modernized on various occasions over the centuries, including in 1553 when Queen Mary ordered that it should be refurbished for Cardinal Pole (1500-58); strangely enough, they died within hours of each other in 1558.



Drama was played out in the Guard Room in 1543 when Thomas More was interrogated by Thomas Cromwell after he refused to sanction Henry VIII's decision to appoint himself head of the Church. When the English Civil War broke out in 1642, Lambeth House, as it was still called, was taken over for public service and became a prison during the Commonwealth, with the chapel being used for dances. Naturally, the building was greatly damaged, and after the Restoration in 1660 the Great Hall was rebuilt under Archbishop Juxon(1582-1663).



Today, the Great Hall is a library that contains the leather gloves that Charles I is alleged to have handed to Archbishop Juxon on the scaffold, shortly before his execution in January 1649. The library also houses the medical reports of George III, whose life was blighted so severely by what is believed to have been porphyria.


Few cities celebrated the new millennium with as much verve as London. Known for its pomp, pageantry and colourful history, the dawn of the year 2000 saw the British capital looking forward rather than back. The regeneration of the Thames' riverbanks and the completion of major public projects were then the settings for further celebrations during the Queen's Golden Jubilee throughout 2002.



Whole areas of the capital have been revitalized. London's new additions range from imaginatively transformed buildings to dramatic fresh architecture, epitomized by Tate Modern and the British Airways London Eye. The first is a brilliant example of renovation, the second a masterpiece of engineering technology, but both capture the public's imagination in very different ways.