‘I’m conscious there could be a serious assault on the Abbey’
Dr John Hall, the outgoing Dean of Westminster, tells Catherine Pepinster of his tenure in a divided Britain
When the Dean of Westminster addressed the Queen from the pulpit of Westminster Abbey last Tuesday, during a service to mark its 750th anniversary, he described the dramatic way that the 21st century is transforming the ancient building. The resting place for some of Britain’s most historic figures, the Abbey is attracting more visitors than ever (some 1.5 million a year and counting), thanks in no small part to its starring role in various recent royal occasions.
A vibrant stained-glass window to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’S reign, which David Hockney designed on his ipad, has been a big draw since it was unveiled last September. In recent winters, the Abbey’s extraordinary exterior has been transformed by colourful projections as part of Lumière, a citywide biennial “festival of light”. Last month, a memorial stone to PG Wodehouse was unveiled in Poets’ Corner – a place of pilgrimage for literature lovers – joining those for Shakespeare, Austen and Eliot.
But perhaps the biggest source of pride for the Very Rev Dr John Hall, which he touched upon in his sermon – his last before his retirement on November 1, after 13 years as Dean – is that, at his insistence, the Abbey now regularly hosts services in which people of faiths other than Christian denominations participate.
Muslim prayers and Jewish liturgical blessings are not normally permitted in the Church of England. But as the Abbey is a Royal Peculiar, making the Dean answerable to only God and the Sovereign, Dr Hall was able to introduce this small revolution. It is typical of him to perform a balancing act, maintaining both tradition and finding a way for the church to embrace the contemporary world.
“I absolutely believe in the tradition,” he says, “that is what we are. But it is a generous tradition.”
We meet at Dr Hall’s home in the Deanery, an exquisite set of buildings mostly dating back to the abbot’s medieval quarters, with some later additions built in the 16th century. There’s a Canaletto in the hall, depicting a procession of the Knights of the Bath past Westminster Abbey; a refectory furnished with dining tables reportedly made from captured Spanish Armada ships; and the Abbot’s Pew, a room that ends in a balcony overlooking the nave of the Abbey. It remains unnoticed by the tourists below and was loved by Princess Margaret as a place from which to watch a service; a side altar made by her son, the second Earl of Snowdon, has been placed there.
Its proximity to the Houses of Parliament has exacted a heavy price on life at the Abbey. A few days before his sermon last week, a dozen or so police cars were parked up as noisy crowds milled about Parliament Square, protesting climate change.
The Dean has also contended with “near-constant noise” for more than three years from EU referendum activists, both Brexiteers and Remainers, who have set up rival camps outside Parliament. And in recent weeks, thousands of Extinction Rebellion protesters have added to the melée, banging drums and shouting as part of their two-week blockade of key London sites.
“The Brexit protests have been disturbing, especially for the clergy who live near the end of the Abbey precincts,” he says. “And the police helicopters are a particular problem.” Sirens are now a common feature at Evensong. This febrile state has become
“the new normal”, but the
Dean is deeply concerned about its impact, not just on staff and visitors to the landmark, but on what it means for the state of Britain at large.
The clergy at Westminster, he says, have been “praying for the nation – that is our role”, but he acknowledges how much those prayers are needed in the current political climate.
“Ten years ago, during the expenses scandal, we were overwhelmed by the pain of people in Parliament. We are very conscious that Parliament is again going through a difficult season.”
Being surrounded by the opposing Brexit factions has made him “very aware” of how divided the nation is. “There has been so much uncertainty, and
I’m very conscious of that,” he says. “We’re surrounded by the noise of the protests, and speaking personally, the sooner we have a resolution the better. We need to move on.”
However solid the
Abbey may seem to visitors riffling through the postcard racks in the gift shop, in the Dean’s mind the 13th-century building finds itself on the very front line of a divided Britain.
In recent years, it has been caught up in some of our most dreadful conflicts. In 2017, the terrorist attack on nearby Westminster Bridge left 50 people injured, four of them dying later, including Pc Keith Palmer, who was stabbed to death by a lone attacker attempting to enter the House of Commons. Parliamentary staff turned to the Abbey to help, and it took in 1,400 people, sheltering them for hours. “We were asked to give sanctuary,” he says. “I went into the pulpit and said a prayer. It was a unique moment in our history.”
It was a wake-up call – a sign of the way the world would start to impinge on the Abbey’s life, as it does now.
“I am very conscious of the fact that there could be a serious assault on the Abbey,” he says. “We have had events that have led to people writing graffiti on the walls of St Margaret’s. Planting bombs is not inconceivable,” he says, adding: “But we are well-prepared.” Running the Abbey is a tough, complicated task even without these recent dramas. There are 28 services a week, crowds flock each day to see the Coronation chair and the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, and the repairs and restorations are “relentless”. And, of course, it is the church where Britain gathers to mark its great moments.
During his 13 years at Westminster, Dr Hall has officiated at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as well as the Queen and Prince Philip’s diamond wedding anniversary service. As the Dean points out, Westminster Abbey has been central to the Queen’s life. “She knows it very well not just from her own Coronation, but from her father’s Coronation as well,” he says.
During his tenure as Dean, Dr Hall welcomed Pope Benedict XVI, Barack Obama and Donald Trump to the Abbey, and oversaw the creation of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries, displaying 1,000 years of treasures.
He had been warned early on that the role of Dean would be relentless. But the Abbey and its history won his heart straight away. “I just fell in love with the place,” he says. “It is captivating. I found it embracing me.”
Despite the constant hurly-burly outside, the Abbey remains, above all, a church. Visitors often know very little about Christianity, and that’s a responsibility Dr Hall takes seriously. “Coming here might be some people’s only encounter with the Christian religion,” he says, and it’s clearly important to him, given his background in parish ministry and his keen interest in education; he was chief education officer of the Church of England before becoming Dean.
It was entirely in keeping, then, that in his valedictory sermon last week, he declared that Government should be “more consistent in its positive engagement with faith communities and its practical support and encouragement for their development”. He cited the lack of state-funded Muslim schools as an example of this lack of support, and it was a matter of duty that the government should back Muslim schools in the state system, just as there are Anglican and Catholic schools. Such schools would be open to non-muslim pupils as well.
“It’s a matter of justice,” he says. “It would then render the Muslim community to be an utterly normal part of society. Muslims should be entitled to have their children given a good education, including in their own faith.”
Asked if there was a risk of conflict between what the children would be taught in a Muslim school and the values of secular society – over issues such as same-sex marriage, for instance – he says: “They would learn their own faith in the equivalent of RE lessons, but the schools would teach GCSES and A-levels according to the national curriculum.”
It will be down to Dr Hall’s successor to consider the balance between tradition and contemporary, that is so key to the Abbey’s life, in planning for the next coronation, but it has inevitably been discussed by him. Some commentators have even suggested it should be held in a secular space, such as Westminster Hall. What does he think should happen? What about those other faiths being involved?
“There has been continuity since the time of King Edgar,” he says. “The monarch is set apart for the service of God. I don’t think it is possible to conceive of a coronation with its key religious elements disappearing, but there must be aspects that will change. It will be a reflection of what has gone before but will be briefer.”
However, he adds: “I am sure there will be representatives of other faiths.” That will make the next coronation very different from the 1953 service, which, with the oath “to maintain the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law”, was focused almost exclusively on the Church of England (with the smallest nod to the Church of Scotland).
Dr Hall is mindful of how Westminster Abbey remains constant – yet changes so much. “A hundred years ago, people thought it was an imperial Valhalla. But it is not like that today. It has different atmospheres,” he recalls of his time there. “On Remembrance Sunday, it has a sense of weight. But with the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, there was such a sense of delight. I thought I would be nervous given that vast TV audience, but
I was just conscious of happiness. Some churches overpower you. But the Abbey lifts you up.”
‘We are very conscious that politics is going through a difficult season’