{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}} {{Use British English|date=August 2025}} {{Infobox church | name = St Mary Undercroft | full_name = Chapel of Saint Mary Undercroft | image = Guide to the Palace of Westminster (1911) (14591271170).jpg | image_size = | landscape = | caption = Print from the ''Guide to the Palace of Westminster'' (1911) | location = [[Palace of Westminster]], London | country = England | coordinates = {{coord|51|29|58|N|0|7|30|W|display=title}} | denomination = [[Church of England]] | churchmanship = | website = | pushpin_map = United Kingdom Central London | founded = 1297<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/estatehistory/the-middle-ages/chapel-st-mary-undercroft-/ |title=The Chapel of St Mary Undercroft – UK Parliament |publisher=Parliament.uk |date=21 April 2010 |accessdate=24 April 2014}}</ref> | founder = | dedication = [[Blessed Virgin Mary]] | dedicated = 1641 | consecrated = | events = | status = | functional_status = | heritage_designation = | designated = | architect = | architectural_type = | style = | groundbreaking = | completed = | construction_cost = | closed = | demolished = | capacity = | length = | width = | height = | materials = | parish = | deanery = | archdeaconry = | diocese = ''[[Royal Peculiar]]'' | province = | archbishop = | bishop = | dean = | rector = | vicar = | priest = | pastor = | abbot = }} [[File:George Johann Scharf - View through the South East Window of the Crypt beneath St Stephen's, Westminster - B1977.14.22534 - Yale Center for British Art.jpg|thumb|"View through the South East Window of the Crypt beneath St Stephen's, Westminster" by [[George Johann Scharf]], 1852]] The '''Chapel of St Mary Undercroft''' is a [[Church of England]] chapel located in the [[Palace of Westminster]], London, England. The chapel is accessed via a flight of stairs in the south east corner of [[Westminster Hall]].
It had been a [[crypt]] below [[St Stephen's Chapel]] and had fallen into disuse, being used at various times as a wine cellar, dining room for [[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Speaker]]s (who had holes bored into the wall to accommodate two kitchen chimneys) and (now unconfirmed by records) stables for [[Oliver Cromwell]]'s horses.<ref name=PWOG>{{cite book|title=The Palace of Westminster Official Guide|year=2012|publisher=Houses of Parliament|page=70|isbn=978-0-95620-292-5}}Website www.parliament.uk</ref>
After [[Burning of Parliament|the fire]] had destroyed St Stephen's Chapel in 1834, the [[undercroft]] returned to its former use as a place of worship. Although much stonework was damaged in the fire, it was decorated in the 1860s by [[Edward Middleton Barry]] with gilded, painted and stencilled designs in rich colours to cover the walls, floor and vaulting. The backdrop of the altar depicts royal British saints.<ref name=PWOG></ref>
On the [[1911 Census|census night]] of 2 April 1911, [[suffragettes|suffragette]] [[Emily Davison]] hid in a cupboard overnight in the Chapel in order to be entered on the census form for the building as a way of ensuring her address was recorded as the House of Commons. A commemorative plaque, unveiled by [[Tony Benn]] in 1999, is fixed to the inside face of the cupboard door.<ref name=PWOG3>{{cite book|title=The Palace of Westminster Official Guide|page=17}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Benn's secret tribute to suffragette martyr|date=17 March 1999|work=[[BBC News]]|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/298471.stm|accessdate=7 August 2008}}</ref>
It is still used for worship today. In particular, children of [[Peerage|peers]], who possess the title of "[[The Honourable]]", have the privilege of being able to use it as a wedding venue. In addition, peers and members of Parliament have the right to use the chapel as a place of [[infant baptism|christening]]<ref>Emma Crewe, ''Lords of Parliament: Manners, Rituals and Politics'' (2005, {{ISBN|0719072077}}), p. 97</ref> in the [[baptistery]] and font (whose basin was made from a single slab of [[alabaster]]) designed by Barry.<ref name=PWOG2>{{cite book|title=The Palace of Westminster Official Guide|page=71}}</ref>
It is a [[Royal Peculiar]] chapel<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/building/palace/estatehistory/the-middle-ages/chapel-st-mary-undercroft-/ |title=The Chapel of St Mary Undercroft – UK Parliament |publisher=Parliament.uk |date=21 April 2010 |accessdate=20 November 2012}}</ref> – outside the responsibility of any [[diocesan bishop]]. The building is administered through the [[Lord Great Chamberlain]] and [[Black Rod]] and it has no dedicated clergy: by convention services were conducted by the [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|Rector]] of [[St Margaret's, Westminster]], a member of the Chapter of [[Westminster Abbey]]. In 2010 the [[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Speaker of the House of Commons]] used his right of appointment to nominate an outsider, the Rev'd [[Rose Hudson-Wilkin]], as the [[Speaker's Chaplain]].
The body of former Prime Minister [[Margaret Thatcher]] was kept in St Mary Undercroft on the night before her funeral in April 2013.<ref name=BBCApr13>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22160529|title=Westminster service remembers Baroness Thatcher|date=16 April 2013|work=BBC News Online|accessdate=19 March 2014}}</ref> The honour was also accorded to the body of [[Tony Benn]], the long-serving Labour politician, before his funeral in March 2014,<ref name=BBCMar14>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26664023|title=Queen approves Tony Benn overnight vigil in Parliament's chapel|date=20 March 2014|work=BBC News Online|accessdate=20 March 2014}}</ref> as well as that of PC [[Keith Palmer (police officer)|Keith Palmer]] who was fatally stabbed carrying out his duties on the palace grounds during the [[2017 Westminster attack]].<ref name=GuardianApr17>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/apr/09/pc-keith-palmers-body-to-lie-in-chapel-in-palace-of-westminster-terrorist-attack|title=PC Keith Palmer's body to lie in chapel in Palace of Westminster|date=9 April 2017|work=The Guardian|accessdate=9 April 2017}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
{{Royal Peculiars}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary Undercroft}} [[Category:Royal Peculiars|London]] [[Category:Palace of Westminster]] [[Category:Church of England church buildings in the City of Westminster]] [[Category:Grade I listed churches in the City of Westminster]] [[Category:Margaret Thatcher]] [[Category:Tony Benn]]