Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of Westminster Abbey and the care of old buildings. The Gothic revival covered England with a variety of ecclesiastical and secular buildings inspired by a romantic nostalgia for the Middle Ages and built with an increasingly accurate understanding of medieval style and methods of construction. This movement was not only responsible for giving Victorian towns their characteristic appearance, but also for the wanton destruction of a great many genuine Gothic buildings. To zealous and well-meaning churchmen and architects, it seemed good that ancient monuments should be restored to some ideal state of perfection by stripping away the slow accretions of time and correcting the bungling workmanship of medieval masons. It is impossible to give any notion of the violence and stupidities that were done in the name of restoration. The dominant idea was that art was shape and not substance; the ancient buildings were appearances of what was called style.
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