Guided tours
Visiting the Abbey with your secondary class is guaranteed to be a memorable experience as you explore the building to discover over a thousand years of faith and history. Our experienced guides link the Abbey to your course of study, offering both highlights tours or something more specific bringing the Abbey to life.
Duration of tours: 1.5 hours | Cost: £6
Westminster Abbey is a living church at the heart of the nation's story where more than 1000 years of British history and pilgrimage can be explored under one roof. A warm welcome awaits all in this sacred space.
Our Abbey Highlights Tour includes:
- Coronation Chair
- Cosmati Pavement - site of coronations
- Royal tombs
- Grave of the Unknown Warrior
- Poets’ Corner
This tour can be tailored to suit your study topic.
Suitable for: KS3, KS4 and Post-16
Duration of tours: 1.5 hours | Cost: £6
Christian Life and Worship
Explore how symbols help Christians to worship in the Abbey and live the Christian life. This tour looks at how symbolic objects, actions, words and images are used in baptism, marriage and funerals.
Suitable for: KS3, KS4 and Post-16
Pilgrimage
Why have people come to the Abbey as pilgrims for nearly a thousand years? Find out about the Shrine of St Edward, and consider what pilgrimage means to Christians and offers to all.
Suitable for: KS3 and KS4
Religion and Science
Some of the greatest, and most controversial, scientists are buried or remembered at Westminster Abbey. This tour explores the relationship between science and religion in the past and today.
Suitable for: KS3, KS4 and Post-16
Duration of tours: 1.5 hours | Cost: £6
Gothic Abbey
Explore the differences between Medieval Gothic and Victorian Gothic on this architectural and literary tour.
Suitable for: KS3, KS4 & Post-16
Shakespeare
Faith, power and death: explore the cultural context of Shakespeare’s plays in Westminster Abbey and visit the graves and memorials of Tudor and Jacobean playwrights.
Suitable for: KS3, KS4 & Post-16
Art in the Abbey
Explore 1,000 years of art from the medieval wall paintings to the brand new Queen's Window designed by David Hockney. Includes opportunities for sketching.
Suitable for: KS3, KS4 & Post-16
Duration of tours: 1.5 hours | Cost: £6
Dissolution: Before and After*
600 years of monastic life ended here in 1540. Investigate the pre-Reformation church exploring themes such as church fabric and wealth and religious doctrine. Discover the story of how one of the most powerful monasteries in the land was dissolved.
Suitable for: KS4 and Post-16
The Tudors: An introduction
Explore the lives and religious reforms of the Tudor monarchs in the church where all were crowned and all but one laid to rest. Discover how their reigns impacted the Abbey and shaped modern Britain.
Suitable for: KS3 and KS4
Henry VII: Building a Legacy
Find out how Henry VII established and consolidated his dynasty with this detailed look at the Lady Chapel and the Shrine of St Edward. Tour includes rare access to Henry's tomb.
(Please note this tour is 2 hours long.)
Suitable for: KS4 and Post-16
Abbey and Parliament
See where Parliament met in medieval times and explore the historical and contemporary links between the Abbey and the Houses of Parliament.
Suitable for: KS3, KS4 and Post-16
Enquiring into Elizabeth*
Discover what sovereignty meant to Elizabeth I as you stand at the Coronation site and find out how her religious settlement affected Westminster Abbey.
Suitable for: KS4 and Post-16
* These sessions can be booked as part of a joint offer with The National Archives at Kew.
Tour and Galleries visit duration: 2 hours | Cost: £8
Visit the stunning Galleries high above the east end of the Abbey and view some of the rare and unusual objects in the Abbey collection. A visit to the Gallery must be booked as an add-on tour.
Free visits for eligible schools
We encourage visits from all UK schools. However, we recognise that the cost of a visit can be a barrier. Schools with 30% or more pupils eligible for free school meals may book a free guided tour of the Abbey.
School travel awards
Westminster Abbey won the award for Best Venue for History Learning at the School Travel Awards 2019/20, and was a finalist in the 2020/21 and 2021/22 awards. Organised by School Travel Organiser magazine, the awards recognise those in the education sector who excel in providing exciting and educational trips for Primary and Secondary schools.
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