Jane Richards, age 13 of Rock Island, Ill., for her question:

HOW OLD IS WESTMINSTER ABBEY?

Westminster Abbey is the most famous church in Great Britain. It enshrines many of the traditions of the British people. Located in London and officially known as the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter in Westminster, it was built in stages between the 11th and 19th centuries.

Westminster Abbey comprises the main church plus chapels, cloister, chapter house and towers. Construction was begun by the English King Edward the Confessor in 1050 on the site of an older Romanesque church, and the abbey was rebuilt in its present Gothic style starting in 1245.

French influence is apparent in the 102 foot height and the soaring verticality of the nave, and particularly fine Gothic fan vaulting is found in the Henry VII Chapel.

English monarchs since William the Conqueror in 1066 have been crowned in the abbey.

Many monarchs have been buried in its chapels. The tombs of famous citizens    among them the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, the physicist Isaac Newton and the naturalist Charles Darwin    are located in the main church of the abbey.

The abbey also contains monuments to prominent political figures.