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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Westminster
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(London SW1)
One of the two historic centres of what is now *London, though not absorbed within the metropolis until the 18C. The other centre was the original walled *City of London. Westminster derived its name from being the monastery church to the west of the city. Legend takes the founding of the monastery back to a Saxon king of the 7C; but its importance began with the patronage in the 11C of *Edward the Confessor, who began building a new abbey church (*Westminster Abbey, consecrated in 1066) and established here the *Palace of Westminster.
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In 1900 Westminster was itself granted a charter as a city with its own Lord Mayor. Since 1965 it has also been a borough of *Greater London, extending west to Chelsea, east to the City and north as far as Regent's Park – an area including the three *Westminster cemeteries sold in 1987.
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