Westminster Abbey has launched a self-guided Braille Touch Tour. It is thought to be the first guide in the UK that allows blind and partially-sighted visitors complete independence within such an historic monument.

Touch Tour participants will have the opportunity to touch and feel parts of the Abbey dating back nearly a thousand years.

The tour – which has been endorsed by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) will for the first time, allow blind and partially sighted people to guide themselves round one of the country’s most famous and historic landmarks without the need for a guide. A copy of the tour is also available in large print.

Reverend Dr Jane Hedges, Canon of Westminster, hopes the project will take forward the Abbey’s aims to provide better facilities and access for the disabled, while bringing the Abbey to life in a totally new way for blind and partially sighted visitors.

Canon Hedges said: ‘This tour allows our blind and partially sighted visitors to really experience the Abbey in a unique and fulfilling way, getting close to history in a way which other historic and famous landmarks can’t always offer.

‘We know Westminster Abbey is visually awe-inspiring, but it also has many areas which are brought alive by touch and we think this experience will be very memorable for blind and partially sighted people.’

Ray Hazan, President of St Dunstan’s, the national charity providing lifelong support and rehabilitation to blind and partially sighted ex-service personnel, was blinded in Northern Ireland in 1973. Ray “roadtested” the tour for the Abbey and said: ‘Touching the monuments, the stone and the marble, and hearing the story behind their creation, is to feel the very history that created our nation. It is an emotional experience.’