Editing Whitehall (section)

== History ==
[[File:Whitehall1680.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Map of Whitehall in 1680, showing the [[Palace of Whitehall]] and [[Great Scotland Yard|Scotland Yard]]. To the west of [[Holbein Gate]], the road was known as The Street.]]
There has been a route connecting Charing Cross to Westminster since the [[Middle Ages]]; the 12th-century historian [[William Fitzstephen]] described it as "a continued suburb, mingled with large and beautiful gardens, and orchards belonging to the citizens".{{sfn|Shepherd|2012|p=37}} The name Whitehall was originally only used for the section of road between Charing Cross and [[Holbein Gate]]; beyond this it was known as The Street as far as [[King Street Gate]], then King Street thereafter. It had become a residential street by the 16th century, and had become a popular place to live by the 17th, with residents including [[Lord Howard of Effingham]] and [[Edmund Spenser]].{{sfn|Weinreb|Hibbert|Keay|Keay|2008|p=1019}}{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=120}}

The Palace of Whitehall, to the east of the road, was originally named York Palace, but was renamed during the reign of [[Henry VIII]].{{efn|Shakespeare's ''[[Henry VIII (play)|Henry VIII]]'' mentions the name change in Act IV, scene 1: "You must no more call it York Place—that is past: For since the [[Thomas Wolsey|Cardinal]] fell that title's lost; 'Tis now the King's, and called Whitehall"<ref>{{cite journal |first=Walter |last=Thornbury |title=Whitehall: Historical remarks |journal=Old and New London |volume=3 |location=London |year=1878 |pages=337–361 |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol3/pp337-361 |access-date=6 July 2016 |archive-date=22 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422105456/https://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol3/pp337-361 |url-status=live }}</ref>}} The palace was redesigned in 1531–32 and became the King's main residence later in the decade. He married [[Anne Boleyn]] here in 1533, followed by [[Jane Seymour]] in 1536, and died at the palace in 1547. [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] owned an extensive art collection at the palace{{sfn|Weinreb|Hibbert|Keay|Keay|2008|p=1020}} and several of [[William Shakespeare]]'s plays had their first performances here.{{sfn|Moore|2003|p=45}} It ceased to be the royal residence after 1689, when [[William III of England|William III]] moved to [[Kensington Palace]] for his health to escape what had become dense urban surroundings. The palace was damaged by fire in 1691, following which the front entrance was redesigned by [[Christopher Wren|Sir Christopher Wren]]. In 1698, most of the vast palace burned to the ground accidentally after a fire started by a careless washerwoman.{{sfn|Weinreb|Hibbert|Keay|Keay|2008|p=1020}}

Wallingford House was constructed in 1572 by [[William Knollys, 1st Earl of Banbury]] along the western edge of Whitehall.{{sfn|Richardson|2000|p=100}} The [[George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham|Duke of Buckingham]] bought the house in 1622,<ref>[[Roger Lockyer]], ''Buckingham'' (London: Longman, 1981), p. 119.</ref> and it was subsequently used by Charles I. During the reign of William III, it was bought for the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]].<ref name=wh>{{cite journal |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol3/pp383-394 |first=Walter |last=Thornbury |title=Whitehall : The Western Side |journal=Old and New London |volume=3 |location=London |year=1878 |pages=383–394 |access-date=4 July 2016 |archive-date=22 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422105457/https://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol3/pp383-394 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Old Admiralty Buildings now sit on the house's site.{{sfn|Richardson|2000|p=100}}

[[File:A View of Whitehall, looking south, 1740.jpg|thumb|240px|Whitehall, looking south in 1740: [[Inigo Jones]]' [[Banqueting House, Whitehall|Banqueting House]] (1622) on the left, [[William Kent]]'s Treasury buildings (1733–37) on the right, the [[Holbein Gate]] (1532, demolished 1759) at centre.]]
[[Banqueting House, Whitehall|Banqueting House]] was built as an extension to the Palace of Whitehall in 1622 by [[Inigo Jones]]. It is the only surviving portion of the palace after it was burned down, and was the first [[Renaissance]] building in London.{{sfn|Weinreb|Hibbert|Keay|Keay|2008|p=39,1020}} It later became a museum to the [[Royal United Services Institute]] and has been opened to the public since 1963.{{sfn|Weinreb|Hibbert|Keay|Keay|2008|p=40}}

[[Oliver Cromwell]] moved to the street in 1647, taking up residence in Wallingford House.<ref name="wh" /> Two years later, Charles I was carried through Whitehall on the way to [[High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I|his trial]] at [[Westminster Hall]]. Whitehall itself was a wide street and had sufficient space for a scaffold to be erected for the King's execution at Banqueting House.{{sfn|Weinreb|Hibbert|Keay|Keay|2008|p=1019}} He made a brief speech there before being beheaded.{{sfn|Weinreb|Hibbert|Keay|Keay|2008|p=39}}{{efn|The [[English Civil War Society]] commemorate the death of Charles I annually on the nearest Sunday to 30 January, the anniversary of the execution. The society retraces the route the King took from [[St James's Palace]] to the Banqueting House, where a wreath is laid at the site of the scaffold.{{sfn|Shepherd|2012|p=167}}}} Cromwell died at the Palace of Whitehall in 1658.{{sfn|Weinreb|Hibbert|Keay|Keay|2008|p=1020}}
[[File:Ve Day Celebrations in London, England, UK, 8 May 1945 D24588.jpg|thumb|People gathered in Whitehall to hear [[Winston Churchill]]'s victory speech, 8 May 1945]]
During the [[Great Plague of London]] in 1665, people boarded coaches at Whitehall, then at the edge of urban London, in an attempt to escape. The King and court temporarily moved to [[Oxford]] to avoid the plague, while [[Samuel Pepys]] remarked in his diary on 29 June, "By water to Whitehall, where the Court is full of waggons and people ready to go out of town. This end of town every day grows very bad with plague".{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=107}}

By the 18th century, traffic was struggling along the narrow streets south of Holbein Gate, which led to King Street Gate being demolished in 1723. Holbein Gate, in turn, was demolished in 1759. Meanwhile, Parliament Street was a side road alongside the palace, leading to the [[Palace of Westminster]]. After the Palace of Whitehall was destroyed, Parliament Street was widened to match Whitehall's width.{{sfn|Weinreb|Hibbert|Keay|Keay|2008|p=626}} The present appearance of the street dates from 1899 after a group of houses between Downing Street and [[Great George Street]] were destroyed.{{sfn|Weinreb|Hibbert|Keay|Keay|2008|p=1019}}

On 8 March 1973, the [[1973 Old Bailey bombing|IRA detonated a bomb]] in front of the Ministry of Agriculture building in Whitehall, injuring a number of bystanders.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2009/mar/09/archive-1973-london-ira-bombs|title=From the archives: Ten held after Provo bombs blast London|newspaper=The Guardian|date=9 March 2009|access-date=25 April 2022|archive-date=20 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240520060920/https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2009/mar/09/archive-1973-london-ira-bombs|url-status=live}}</ref> On 7 February 1991, the IRA [[Downing Street mortar attack|launched a mortar attack]] on [[10 Downing Street]] in an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Prime Minister [[John Major]] and his cabinet.