Fun facts about Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey – and the writers buried there
Although Geoffrey Chaucer was the first to be buried in Poets’ Corner, his interment in that part of the Abbey only took place in 1556, over a century and a half after his death. He had originally been buried elsewhere in Westminster Abbey, following his death in 1400. And he earned his original place in the Abbey not for his poetry but for his other work: he was Clerk of Works of the Palace of Westminster. This was probably the reason for his burial in the Abbey in the first place. ‘Poets’ Corner’ would only come into being many years after Chaucer’s death.