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The separation of the Commons (the knights and burgesses) from the Lords (the nobles and prelates) seems
to have begun about 1332. The Commons met in parts of the palace or in the chapter house or refectory of the
abbey until in 1547 the private chapel of the palace – St Stephen's Chapel, on the site of the present St Stephen's
Hall – was secularised and given to the Commons as their first permanent meeting place. The Commons adapted
it to their needs, installing the Speaker's chair in front of the altar and using the chapel stalls for seats.
Sir Christopher Wren made changes to St Stephen's Chapel in 1707, inserting three round-headed windows,
adding paneling and galleries and lowering the roof. Subsequent architects tried to maximise the space in the
long narrow chamber, but the seating arrangements remained rather crowded, with parallel rows of benches fac-
ing each other. This probably influenced the present seating plan of the Commons.
Until 1801 the Lords met in the Parliament Chamber, at the southern end of the Old Palace. It was beneath
this chamber that Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators placed barrels of gunpowder in 1605, an act of trea-
son which led to their execution in Old Palace Yard.
After the Union with Ireland in 1801 the Lords, seeking more space, moved into the Court of Requests, to the
south of Westminster Hall where the statue of Richard I now stands. The Lords remained there, and the Com-
mons in St Stephen's Chapel, until the night of 16 October 1834 when the Old Palace went up in flames. The
overheating of a House of Lords furnace filled with Exchequer tally sticks used for keeping accounts led to a mas-
sive blaze which destroyed almost all of the rambling medieval building.
Answer the following questions.
1. What is the real name of the Houses of Parliament?
2. Why did Edward the Confessor establish the medieval building?
3. Was the Old Palace still used as a royal residence?
4. Why was Westminster Hall enlarged?
5. Where did the Commons and the Lords meet after their split?
6. Where had the Commons and the Lords sat until the Old Palace went up in flames?
THE NEW PALACE
Words and Expressions
– unsuitability – непригодность
– emphasis – акцент
– layout – расположение
– collaboration – сотрудничество
– elaborate – искусно сделанный
– carving – резьба по дереву
– to alter – изменять
– to obscure – потемнеть, выгореть
A new Palace of Westminster, much more magnificent and carefully planned, was to rise on the site of the
old building, whose unsuitability as the seat of Parliament had long been recognised.
The fire provided an opportunity to create a new building which could be a symbol of the spirit of parlia-
mentary reform (the 1832 Reform Act had just been passed), a monument to the history of the nation and a
building providing the comforts available in the mid nineteenth century. A competition was held, specifying a
design in either the gothic or Elizabethan style. Out of ninety-seven entries the winner was Charles Barry, who
chose the рerpendicular gothic style to harmonise with Westminster Abbey's Henry VII Chapel. He created a
functional secular palace combining practical arrangements with an extraordinary complexity of ornament, aim-
ing to achieve 'a sculptured memorial of our national history'.
Barry designed the buildings of the New Palace around the series of courtyards, above which rise the cen-
tral tower and the clock tower. The Commons’ chamber is in the block between the two towers.
The most unified design of the New Palace is the east front, which has an unbroken line of large pinnacles
stretching along the river for 872 feet
(265 m). Barry raised the central part of this facade to provide more interest. Below the east front is the paved
terrace beside the river which is popular with MPs during the summer. The highly decorated exterior includes
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