Place of worship, House of kings. Although originally conceived by King Edward the Confessor, his work was scraped by King Henry III in 1245 who wanted to start fresh. He was not thought to be French, but it is plain Henry borrowed bits of Reims and Chartes, from the rose windows, the radiating chapels and, of course, the formidable flying buttresses. One thing that is certainly English, are the projecting transepts. Even in Notre Dame, the transepts were not permitted to project. Other English bits include the narrow aisles which help create the illusion that the highest vault in England was even higher, as well as the polished purbeck marble for its mighty columns. The sculpture over all has a distinct English flavor. Also, because the cathedral was designed with coronations in mind, there is an extra wide gap between the Choir and the High Altar to give such pageantry a most capacious berth.
The stonework was from Caen in France and also from Surrey and it is believed that the carvings on the exterior of the Abbey were originally brilliantly colored in very color of the rainbow, though now they have reverted to the gray of the stone. Evidently in the 1930's, during a cleaning, a bit of the Abbey's brilliant colors were revealed.
Although it took over 150 years for the Abbey to be completed, with money coming only in spits and spats, Henry III's master plan was followed to the T, giving the cathedral an overall harmony.