A celebratory service was held at Westminster Abbey on Tuesday to mark the 750th anniversary of the rebuilding of Westminster Abbey. 

The service was led by the Dean of Westminster, the Very Rev Dr John Hall, with the Queen and the Duchess of Cornwall in attendance. 

It was on 13 October 1269 that the current abbey was consecrated in the presence of Henry III, replacing the second one on the site built by Edward the Confessor and consecrated two centuries earlier in 1065. 

"We give thanks for the integrity of Henry III, whose imagination and commitment made this Abbey Church in the French Gothic style strikingly beautiful and fitted for its royal and monastic purpose," said Dr Hall. 

"Today we celebrate the history of this Abbey and its Church and mark its continuing significance as a place of worship and memorial, standing firmly for faith at the heart of our nation and Commonwealth and of the wider world."

Dr Hall, who is retiring in November, went on to say that he wanted to see greater government support for faith schools, particularly Muslims schools, which he argued would improve integration. 

"One third of our state-funded schools have been founded by the Church of England and the Catholic Church and they flourish in our system of maintained education. But too many Muslim children are being educated in poorly funded independent schools," he said.

"There should be a clear duty on Government to encourage excellent State funded Muslim schools. Irish immigrants in the 19th century were able to study in emerging Catholic schools.

"That community is fully incorporated in our society. A substantial number of State funded Muslim schools would contribute to similar incorporation, to mutual engagement and flourishing." 

He also said that he saw "no evidence" that religion was fading in relevance. 

"Finally, many and loud have been the predictions for more than a century that religion will gradually fade away and cease to be relevant to people, that our nation and world will gradually be free from the shackles, as some see them, of piety and religion. I see no evidence of that," he said.

"The place of the Church and of faith in our national life has waxed and waned. Revival comes in various guises. True, clear faith is catching. We must always be modest but also confident."

He concluded by saying that he hoped Britain would continue to be "open and generous" in serving the world as it continues to negotiate Brexit.

"The longevity, the continuity, of our national life, without substantial revolution or invasion since 1066, though sorely tested at times, is surely unique in the world," he said. 

"So our United Kingdom can and must continue to be open and generous in serving the wider world community. I pray that we shall never lose our national commitment, not only at home but in the Commonwealth and in the wider world, to being and doing what is good."

During the service, the Queen brought a gift of roses that was placed on the altar in the shrine of St Edward and a procession was held of treasures from the abbey collection, including the late 10th century Anglo-Saxon Royal Charter recording the restoration of land by St Dunstan to the first Benedictine abbey on the site around the year 960.

Another item was the fragment of a shroud from the shrine of St Edward the Confessor and the Litlyngton Missal created on the orders of Nicholas Litlyngton, Abbot of Westminster from 1362 to 1386, for use at the high altar of the third abbey.