Where: Lambeth Palace Road, SE1

What: Lambeth Palace has been the Archbishop of Canterbury's London home since 1207. In 1200 Archbishop Hubert Walter built Lambeth House for Praemonstratension canons, and then attached his own house to it, forming what was to become Lambeth Palace.

Lambeth Palace sat opposite the Palace of Westminster and the two were linked by a horse ferry across the Thames. During the last almost 800 years, the palace has played a key, and sometimes colorful, role in British history. Amongst the events that have happened there, those during the English civil war stand out. Thomas Cromwell and the Lords of the Council questioned Thomas Moore in the guardrooms in 1534 for refusing to sign the Oath of Supremacy, then, during and after the war, the palace was used as a prison.

The palace has been updated and restored at various times during the past 800 years, but parts of the Early English chapel and its undercroft and sections of the palace have survived from the 13th century. The Tudor gatehouse dates from 1485 but the rest of the buildings are more recent.

The gatehouse is one of the capital's most familiar riverside landmarks. And it was from here that the ‘Lambeth dole’ was handed out to the poor of Lambeth.

Lambeth Palace is not usually open to the public but tours may be arranged by writing to the bookings department. Allow plenty of time as those tours that are available are booked-up months ahead.

Nearest underground station: Lambeth North