The Room Is Pretty Near Square, And Towards The
Upper End Is The Speaker's Armed Chair, To Which He Ascends
By a
step or two; before it is a table where the clerks sit, on which the
mace lies when
The Speaker is in the chair, and at other times the
mace is laid under the table. On the north and south sides, and at
the west end, are seats gradually ascending as in a theatre, and
between the seats at the west end is the entrance by a pair of
folding-doors. There are galleries also on the north, south, and
west, where strangers are frequently admitted to hear the debates.
This room was anciently a chapel, founded by King Stephen about the
year 1141, and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin; however, it obtained
the name of St. Stephen's Chapel. It was rebuilt by King Edward
III., anno 1347, who placed in it a dean, twelve secular canons,
thirteen vicars, four clerks, five choristers, a verger, and a
keeper of the chapel, and built them a convent, which extended along
the Thames, endowing it with large revenues, which at the
dissolution of monasteries in the reign of Edward VI. amounted to
near eleven thousand pounds per annum. Almost ever since the
dissolution, this chapel has been converted to the use we find it at
present, viz., for the session of the Lower House of Parliament,
who, before that time, usually assembled in the chapter-house
belonging to the Abbey, when the Parliament met at Westminster.
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