Somerset House - A Journey Through the Memory Lane Passing
       By: Matthew Lawless
Posted: 2010-10-14 08:41:36
A magnificent architecture of great grandeur, located on the southern side of the famous Strand in London, has its cultural and heritage roots deeply set in history. It is said that sometime after 1570, Inigo Jones built a beautiful chapel for the then Queen of King Charles I. The queen is said to have established a Capuchin Friars Convent here.Inigo Jones died in the year 1612. After the chapel and altar were burnt, there was a restoration done, after which Henrietta, the then Queen Mother returned back to the Somerset House and ordered repairs to it. There is a beautiful verse credited to the Queen Mother where she describes the Somerset House thus-"Before my gate a street's broad channel goes,
Which still with waves of crowding people flows;
And every day there passes by my side,
Up to its western reach, the London tide,
The spring-tides of the term. My front looks down
On all the pride and business of the town."Somerset House was more acclaimed as the place where all important records like birth and death certificates resided. So, whenever someone had to register a death or birth, they had to visit the office housed in this magnificent palatial house, which was located by the banks of the River Thames. This was only required till the year 1970, after which the records were moved away from Somerset House. This building had tremendous historical importance till then, because whenever someone needed a copy of any registered deaths and births, they could acquire those after payment of a nominal fee at the offices located at the Somerset House.Today, what we see of this magnificent and awe-inspiring structure is a renovated faade, as Somerset House is said to have suffered considerably during the Second World War. The southern wing of the house was said to have been completely damaged, and it was only in 1950 that it was repaired. It was Sir Albert Richardson who is credited with the new recreated version, which came at a cost of eighty four thousand pounds and was completed only in the year 1952.Matt Lawless is a historical records expert. If you are looking for somerset house records please visit http://www.vitalcertificates.co.uk for marriage, death and birth certificates.
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