There is such a wealth of buildings, museums and other sites to see in London that the choice can get rather over-whelming.

I love London - my home town. I hope to share the beauty, history and passion of the city with you!

In this article, part of a series about London, is a detailed account of five of the most important and interesting secular buildings in the capital - not churches, cathedrals, or museums, but fascinating and unique structures that I hope you will enjoy reading about and visiting.

The Houses of Parliament, are also known as the Palace of Westminster, is the meeting place for the House of Commons, the Lower House, and the House of Lords, the Upper House.

It is in the City of Westminster, very close to Westminster Cathedral and St Margaret’s Church, Westminster, and on the banks of the River Thames. The first Palace of Westminster was built on Thorney Island, a rise or very small hill of gravel among the Westminster marshes.

King Edward the Confessor, who built Westminster Abbey, also built a Palace here in Westminster.

After the Norman invasion in 1066, William the Conqueror first of all governed London from his new stone castle, the Tower of London. He later shifted to Westminster, and used the wooden Saxon buildings put up by Edward the Confessor.

London was not, at the time, the capital of the country. Winchester was the capital, but the King and the King’s court moved around all the time.

Norman Kings after William the Conqueror built some of the Palace in stone.

Westminster Hall and St Stephen’s Chapel, for example, were built by the William I’s son, William Rufus.

Most of the current buildings in the Houses of Parliament look older than they are. The Norman and medieval buildings mostly burnt down in October 1834. The Westminster Hall, built by William Rufus, survived, as did the lower parts of St Stephen’s Chapel and the Cloisters.

The Houses of Parliament were rebuilt in Victorian Gothic style.

During the Second World War, several bombs hit the Houses of Parliament, including one which came through the roof of House of Commons Chamber.

It is an absolutely immense building. It contains approximately 3 miles of corridors, 104 staircases, and 1,152 rooms. I don’t know who counted them, I certainly didn’t.

The House of Commons sits in its own chamber at the northern end of the Palace. It is far plainer in style than the House of Lords Chamber. The House of Commons’ colour is green. The benches on which MPs sit, and other items associated with the Commons, are all the same green colour.

The Chamber is set out in an adversarial style. Members of Parliament who belong to the Government Party or Parties sit on the Speaker’s right-hand side, and opposition MPs sit on the left. The Speaker of the House of Commons sits on the chair at the northern end of the Chamber and controls debates.

Ministers speaking to the House speak from the despatch boxes on the table of the House. Backbench MPs merely stand to speak.

The House of Lords Chambers is decorated throughout in red, and is far more elaborate than the House of Commons Chambers.

Members of the Royal family and the King or Queen are allowed to enter the House of Lords. Royalty is forbidden from entering the House of Commons, as the last time a King did so, King Charles I, he tried to arrest Members of Parliament and since then its been deemed unacceptable for Kings or Queens to try and enter the room.

The Speaker of the House of Lords sits not on the throne, which is reserved for the King or Queen, but on a wool sack. This illustrates the country’s historic reliance on wool and wool cloth as a great source of wealth.

The benches to the right of the Speaker are known as the spiritual side. The Lords Spiritual, who are Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England, sit on this side.

The Lords Temporal, not religious types, sit on the spiritual side if they’re members of the Government Party, and the on the temporal side, to the left of the Speaker, if they are opposition.

There are also benches in the middle for those members of the House of Lords who are not members of a political party, and are known as cross benchers.

The State opening of Parliament, yearly, is the occasion when the Queen sets out what the Government intends to do over the next 12 months. The monarch delivers the Queen’s Speech (or King’s Speech, when there’s a King) from the throne.

Westminster Hall was built by William Rufus in 1097 A.D., and was at the time the biggest building in Europe. It has an astonishingly wide hammer beam roof, and there are no aisles in the church, which makes it a vast open space. It is 69 feet wide.

Until 1882, the High Courts of Justice Courts, the Court of King’s Bench, the Court of Common Pleas, and the Court of Chancery all sat in Westminster Hall, and presumably kept their voices down.

People given state funerals and who lie in state for those funerals do so in Westminster Hall.

It’s almost always royalty that does this. The last non royal was Sir Winston Churchill in 1965, and the most recent royal lying in state was Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 2002.

There is an astonishing variety of other facilities in the Houses of Parliament, including a hairdressers, gym, and 20 bars or restaurants.

Members of Parliament are not allowed to wear hats, swords, or military medals. Neither do they refer to each other by name in the Houses of Parliament. One MP will call another "my Honourable Friend", if he is a member of the same Party, or "the Honourable Gentleman, or Honourable Lady", if he’s from a different Party. Often the salutation the "Honourable Member for Greenwich" or other constituency is used.

Members of the House of Lords are referred to as "the Noble Lord", "the Noble Lady", or "my Noble Friend".

No-one is allowed to die in the Palace of Westminster. If someone looks as if they’re about to die, they get dragged out sharpish.

For security reasons, it is difficult to access the Houses of Parliament, which may not be surprising.

If somebody who lives in the UK wants to sit in the public gallery of either the Commons or the Lords, he may obtain a ticket from his MP. It’s also possible to get tickets on the day by queuing up, and this is not limited to UK residents.

UK residents can get a guided tour of Parliament whenever it’s sitting, but non UK residents can only go through Parliament during the summer recess. See the link to the right of this text for the UK Parliament’s visitors' guide.

The Tower of London, whose formal name is "Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress", is in Central London on the North Bank of the Thames. It’s close to the City of London.

The White Tower, in the centre of the Tower of London, was built by William the Conqueror in 1078 in stone. He built it to control and rule London, which was proving to be a bit bolshie.

The White Tower represents a serious defensive structure. The walls at their foundations are 15 feet thick, and they are 11 feet thick even towards the top.

A royal zoo was established at the Tower in the early 12^th century. Over time it featured big cats of almost all varieties, including lions, tigers, leopards, and lynxes, and at various other times elephants and camels. The zoo closed in 1835 and all the animals were transferred to London Zoo, in Regent’s Park.

Ravens still live in the Tower of London. Charles II wanted to get rid of them, but he was told of the ancient legend that if the Tower of London is ever without Ravens, the White Tower, the monarchy and the entire country would be destroyed. The Ravens remain until today, and their wings are clipped to prevent them from flying away.

The Tower has, over the centuries, frequently been used as a prison, for high status prisoners. The first prisoner was the Bishop of Durham in 1100, and he managed to escape by climbing out of the White Tower down a rope ladder.

Charles, Duke of Orleans, was captured in the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the battle at which the Henry V was victorious (Shakespeare’s play Henry V commemorates Agincourt at some length). The Duke of Orleans remained a prisoner in England for 25 years.

The illustration to the right of this text is a 15^th century illustration of Charles’ poetry.

A number of royal family members have been imprisoned in the Tower over time. John, King of Scotland was imprisoned in the Tower for 4 years from 1296, as were David II of Scotland, John II of France, Henry VI of England and his wife, Edward V and his brother, Duke Richard, the Princes in the Tower, Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I, before she ascended the throne, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Katherine Howard.

More recently, Rudolph Hess, the deputy leader of the Nazis, was held as a state prisoner in 1941.

Over several centuries, but especially in the 16^th century under various Tudor governments, the Tower was a place of torture as well as one of execution.

Jane Boleyn and Lady Jane Grey were both executed here in 1542 and 1554 respectively.

The last execution in the Tower was, astonishingly recently, that of a German spy in 1941.

The Tower is run by 37 Yeomen Warders, better known as “Beefeater”. In charge is the Constable of the Tower. The Beefeaters give guided tours of the Tower.

The Crown Jewels have been kept in the Tower since 1303. They are only taken out when needed, apart from during the Second World War when they were stashed to keep them safe well outside London.

Other items such as Henry VIII’s armour are very popular at the Tower, and tours are easy to arrange. A link to the right of this text provides information on how to book one.

The nearest Tube station is Tower Hill, District and Circle Lines, and the nearest Docklands Light Railway Station is Tower Gateway. River boats often stop in addition at the Tower Millennium Pier.

The Royal Courts of Justice, on the junction of Fleet Street and The Strand just north of the Temple and east of Aldwych, contains the Supreme Court of England Wales. The Supreme Court is made up of the High Court and the Court of Appeal. The highest Court in England and Wales is not the Court of Appeal but the House of Lords. By late Victorian times there were so many different Courts applying different bits of the law that it had all become extremely complicated. Two Acts of Parliament were passed, the Judicature Act 1873 and the Judicature Act 1875. Previously these Courts had met in Westminster Hall in the Houses of Parliament. The Crown bought a 7½ acre site in order to build the new Royal Courts of Justice. The 7½ acre site cost £1.4 million, and 4,175 people lived in 450 houses there. The building cost another £1.4 million. It is an immense building, designed to put the fear God and the law into people who enter it. Criminal trials do not take place here, other than appeals from the Crown Court to the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division). The main entrance from The Strand consists of an extremely elaborate pair of gates. There are carvings of eminent and important judges and lawyers and over the central arch is a figure of Jesus, slightly lower down are statues of King Solomon, King Alfred the Great, and Moses.

The Court rooms are set off a main Great Hall, which is more like a Cathedral than a Court building. The Courts are covered with beautiful carved oak panelling from floor to ceiling.

All Courts have a public gallery, and anyone can wander in and listen to a case. Any visitor must be quiet, turn off mobile phones, and remember that it is a criminal offence, Contempt of Court to photograph or record anything which happens inside a Court building. The best way to get into the building is through the main entrance on The Strand, where there are x-ray machines and security arches. It is an absolutely astonishing building. I am, on average, in this court a day a week, and always greatly enjoy walking in and through the building.

Somerset House in an immense neo-classical building on the River Thames, the North Bank, near Waterloo Bridge.

The original building was built by Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, and Lord Protector of the child King Edward VI (son and heir of Henry VIII).

After the Duke of Somerset was executed in 1552, Somerset Place was given to Princess Elizabeth who lived there on and off until she became Queen in 1558. It then became one of the many royal Palaces in London.

The current building was started in 1775, and designed to become a great public building with public offices in it, including the Salt Office, the Tax Office, and the Surveyor of the Crown Lands Office. The building was originally actually on the Thames, the river embankments were not built until the 1850s. Boats and barges could sail directly into landing quays within the building.

A major extension, the new wing, was built in the 1850s. From the start of the building of the current Somerset House, various Tax departments have been based there, making up what has now become the Inland Revenue. The Inland Revenue still occupy the east and new wings of Somerset House.

Over the last 2 decades, Somerset House has become more open to the public. The Courtauld Institute of Art moved in in the mid 1990s, and the terrace overlooking the Thames was smartened up and opened to public view.

There are events held in the large courtyard every summer, and in the winter the courtyard is made into an open air ice rink. There are various art exhibitions which change frequently.

There is also a restaurant in Somerset House. I’ve eaten there twice, and it is extremely good food in absolutely astonishing surroundings.

The Queen’s Official London residence is Buckingham Palace, in the City of Westminster.

It came into royal hands relatively late. The Duke of Buckingham built it, Buckingham House, in 1703, and it was sold to George III in 1761.

It only became the official Royal Palace in London as the British King or Queen when Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837.

The Palace today contains private apartments for the King or Queen and the royal family, and also state rooms used by the Queen and government officials for state entertaining.

There are also regular royal garden parties, lunches and suppers held for various British people. My parents, for example, have attended 2 garden parties at Buckingham Palace, the first when my father became a Queen’s Counsel in 1990.

Overall Buckingham Palace has 828,850 square feet of rooms. The rooms are hung with works of art from the royal collection, one of the most impressive and valuable collections of art in the world.

Buckingham Palace had 7 bombs land on it during the Blitz, one of which destroyed the Palace Chapel in 1940.

On major state occasions, such as royal weddings, the Queen’s Jubilee, or similarly important occasions, the royal family appear on the balcony and crowds gather below.

Since 1993, the Palace has been open for public tours in the summer. There is a link to the right of this text which gives details of opening times and access.

Have a look at this article, detailing five fantastic family London activities which are free.

For a more detailed off-the-beaten-path London experience, this article on places in London associated with the Knights Templar.

For a historical London perspective, you can read this hub about how English people in general, and Londoners in particular, coped with the Nazi bombs dropped during the Blitz.

London has a very good and well-integrated public transport systerm. You can travel around walking, or by tube, train, tram, bus, cab and boat transport on the Thames.

The tranport possibilites are complicated, and you might find the details about finding your way around the city in this article helpful when planning your London trip.