Westminster Abbey - burials

[tali1]

Who was the first person buried at Westminster Abbey AND how much burial space inside is left there currently?

[sassie0009]

First person buried was definitely Geoffrey Chaucer.

[Pentalpha8]

Chaucer was the first person to be buried in Poets Corner .
Edward the confessors remains were interred in the Abbey in 1163 way before Chaucer who was buried there around 1400.
They don't actually bury anyone in there any more .There isn't any more room.Though I think you can still have ashes interred if you are a famous personage .

[VHG]

Seeing as how Westminster Abbey was a proper "abbey" in its early days the chances are that the first person buried there may be some unknown monk who lived and worked there.

There has been a simple Abbey there since the year 616, though the original stone abbey was built in 1045-1050.

This building has been much changed during the following centuries.

Henry VIII siezed the Abbey and closed it during the dissolution of the monastries in the 1500s.

It is not a cathedral or a church and is actually owned by the Royal Family

[tali1]

Who was the last person buried there?- so HM Queen will not be buried there when she dies?

[Pentalpha8]

The Dean of Westminster must give his permission for all burials and monuments in the Church. Ashes only are permitted. People who have served the Abbey in an official capacity, such as a Dean, a Canon, Organist or Surveyor of the Fabric may be buried there and eminent persons of British nationality from various fields may be considered. The last poet interred was John Masefield in 1967, and Laurence Olivier, actor, was buried there in 1991.
This is from the Abbey website .

No more room for great memorials .Her Maj will more than probably end up at St Georges Chapel Windsor .

[CJMurphy]

Harold Harefoot (or Harold I) (c. 1015 – 17 March 1040) was King of England from 1037 to 1040

Harold died at Oxford on 17 March 1040 just as Harthacnut was preparing an invasion force of Danes, and was buried at Westminster Abbey. His body was subsequently exhumed, beheaded, and thrown into a fen bordering the Thames when Harthacnut assumed the throne in June 1040 His supporters later rescued the body, to be buried in a church in the City of Westminster which was fittingly named St. Clement Danes.


From
Chris Murphy
(Hemel Hempstead) Media URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_I_of_England
Description: