Westminster Abbey Chapter House

George Gilbert Scott's Restoration.

George Gilbert Scott carried out a restoration of the Chapter House in 1866-72. By the mid 19th Century the vaulting had been dismantled, the building capped off with a shallow roof, a mezzanine inserted and the windows in filled. He described finding the ribs of the lost vaulting which had been used to blank off the window above the door 'carefully packed, like wine bottles in a bin, with their moulded sides inwards!' Of the external details... 'scarcely a trace remains; decay and mutilation have brought their work to a final completion.' [GG Scott - Gleanings from Westminster Abbey JH&J Parker 1863]. Accordingly the Chapter House was rebuilt externally from cill level, so nearly all the external work conserved by Stow & Beale in 2008-10 dates from the 19th Century, although modelled on the original as far as Scott could ascertain.

Opposite we show Scott's illustrations of the interior, before and after. Further resources can be found at British History Online here, and another illustration of the chapter house before restoration here.

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George Gilbert Scott's Restoration