WESTMINSTER ABBEY OVERCROWDED

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 108, 31 January 1935, Page 9

WESTMINSTER ABBEY OVERCROWDED

Removal of Some Monuments Urged Dominion Special Service—By Air Mail. Louden. January 5. Every Australian or New Zealander who comes to London goes on his or her second day in the great city to Westminster Abbey. Visitors will be interested to know that all those endless rows of monuments upon which they gaze with reverence are now tlie subject of much controversy. Many experts who love the Abbey and all that it commemorates in the national life declare that scores of those monuments, some of them bulky and elaborate, should be swept out. The place, they aver, is disgracefully overcrowded. Authorities who have an intimate knowledge of the Abbey, extending over many years, expressed the opinion that tlie difficulties of any such task were almost overwhelming. But they admitted that some of the monuments in the Abbey are, for various reasons, inappropriate. “But how can one consent to their removal?” asked one distinguished authority. “It has to be remembered that they represent the history of England. There may be some monuments that are of no national importance, or are far too large and ornate. “I would leave them all. not because each one of these monuments appeals to me, but because they are, in the mass, so fully representative of bygone days. The slightest change may evoke a protest. I remember not very long ago one plaque of no particular interest was removed temporarily. Within 24 hours a small party of people from America were anxiously looking for it. They wanted to see their ancestor’s memorial. “The Abbey, I agree, is full of statuary, and some is of embarrassing bulk, but there is still plenty of room for burials. In quite recent years the ashes of Mr. Bonar Law and Lord Plumer have been buried there, and tributes paid to modern men include those to Lord Oxford and Asquith, Lord Cromer and Lord Curzon.” On the other hand, a tour of Westminster Abbey demonstrates at once the incongruities of the present situation. Walking from the mass of sculpture which, towering to a height of more than 20ft., represents the monument to three long-forgotten naval captains near the north door, a visitor searched for the memorial to Bouar Law. After removing chairs in the south aisle of the nave he discovered the small slab, with its simple inscription: “Andrew Bonar Law, 1858-1923. Some time Prime Minister” —nothing more. In King Henry VIPs Chapel there is an even more remarkable contrast. The fine tomb of that monarch has within a few feet of it on the floor one small marble tile that, denotes the restingplace of another King, with no other lettering than this: “K. George 11, 17G0.” It seems curious to reflect that while to-day there is the greatest difficulty in finding space for a small bust of some outstanding figure of our own age, the Abbey has many elaborate memorials to persons who even in their own time were comparatively unknown, or who, _ in these days, would not be the subject even of a small obituary notice.