Westminster Returns

Parliament returns this afternoon. Now it has its seat in the Palace of Westminster - but originally it met around the country. The King summoned Parliament to advise him - and the meeting place was where HE was. Over time the residential palace of Kings alongside the Thames became Parliament's home. King Canute is believed to have been the first King to live in Westminster. Henry VIII was the last. The House of Lords made the palace its permanent home long before the Commons. It was only in the late 1540's that the Commons were granted a permanent meeting place in St Stephen's Chapel.

There are some useful histories of Parliament available - my favourite is below