King Soderstrom, age 13, ofBurlington, Vt., for his question:

WHEN WAS WESTMINSTER ABBEY BUILT?

Westminster Abbey is a great national church that stands near the House of Parliament in London. It is a world famous church and also one of the most beautiful in the world.

Cloisters surrounding the Abbey date from the 1200s and 1300s. The chapter house was built in the 1200s. West of the main cloisters is the famous Jerusalem Chamber which dates from the 1300s. The beautiful church is indeed an old one.

The floor plan of Westminster Abbey is in the shape of a Latin Cross. The church is 513 feet long with the crossarms extending 203 feet. The main hall is 38 feet wide and 102 feet high. The twin towers, completed in 1740, are 225 feet high.

Edward the Confessor built a church on the site of the Abbey between 1042 and 1065. But the main part of the Abbey was started in 1245 by Henry III. In the 1500s, Henry VII added the chapel that bears his name.

Westminster Abbey became the seat of the bishop in 1539. This made the Abbey a Cathedral.