What are the oldest buildings in the UK?

This article is part of Yahoo's 'On This Day' series.

There are buildings standing in Britain which are eight or even ten times older than the United States, which was founded just 245 years ago.

Mousa Broch, which still stands in Shetland, is a roundhouse thought to have been built in 300BC by Iron Age people.

But there are some buildings built almost 1,000 years ago which are still in daily use - such as Westminster Abbey, consecrated on this day in 1065.

The abbey has been extended since it was built, but some of the central structure remains the same as it was when it was consecrated by Edward the Confessor.

Other similarly ancient buildings in London include the Westminster Hall area of Parliament, which was built in 1016, and the White Tower in the Tower of London, which dates from 1078.

Westminster Abbey was consecrated after Edward the Confessor (son of Ethelred the Unready) made a vow while in exile to make a pilgrimage to St Peter’s in Rome if he was restored to his throne.

Edward was released from his vow by Pope Leo IX, after advisers convinced him that it was not a good idea to make the pilgrimage - and he swore instead to build a church dedicated to St Peter.

Edward built his monastery on the site of a previous Benedictine community on the aptly named Thorney Island (which was duly cleared of thorns before the abbey was built).

Edward - a deeply devout man - moved his own palace nearby on the banks of the Thames and built on the site of a small monastery founded by King Edgar a few decades before.

Edward built a large stone church on the site, which became known as the ‘West minster’, to distinguish it from St Paul’s Cathedral (the ‘East minster’).

By the time the church was finished, Edward was too ill to attend the ceremony to consecrate it in 1065.

He died just a week later, on January 5th, 1066, and was buried in the church in front of the altar.

When William the Conqueror won the Battle of Hastings, he had himself crowned King of England in the abbey on Christmas Day in 1066.

Every British monarch since William the Conqueror has been crowned in the abbey (except Edward V and Edward VIII who were never crowned).

The abbey was rebuilt in the 1200s by Henry III in a grander, gothic style, but parts of Edward’s design still remain.

Famous British people have also been buried in the Abbey, considered an honour: famous people buried in the abbey include Geoffrey Chaucer, Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.

Queen Elizabeth was married in Westminster Abbey in 1947.