Dean's Yard
Encyclopedia
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
as Green, and referred to without an article. It is a large gated quadrangle, closed to public traffic, surrounding a green upon which Westminster School pupils have legal rights to play football (they have some claim to have invented the modern game). Until the seventeenth century the Green was a third of its present size, since to the south stood the Queen's Scholar
Queen's Scholar
The longest-established Queen's Scholarships are the forty scholarships at Westminster School, founded in 1560 by Queen Elizabeth I. These scholars take part in the coronation in Westminster Abbey, acclaiming the new monarch by shouting "Vivat". They also have the right to observe parliament...
s' dormitory, which was in monastic times the granary: its stones still support Church House. The East side consists of buildings occupied by Westminster School; the South by Church House, the headquarters of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
; the West by several School buildings and Westminster Abbey Choir School
Westminster Abbey Choir School
Westminster Abbey Choir School is a British boarding preparatory school and the only school in the United Kingdom exclusively for the education of boy choristers. It is located in Dean's Yard, by Westminster Abbey...
; and the North by the archway to the Great Sanctuary
Sanctuary
A sanctuary is any place of safety. They may be categorized into human and non-human .- Religious sanctuary :A religious sanctuary can be a sacred place , or a consecrated area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.- Sanctuary as a sacred place :#Sanctuary as a sacred place:#:In...
, Abbey offices and part of the Deanery.
Historically the Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
was one of the last ecclesiastical sanctuaries
Sanctuary
A sanctuary is any place of safety. They may be categorized into human and non-human .- Religious sanctuary :A religious sanctuary can be a sacred place , or a consecrated area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.- Sanctuary as a sacred place :#Sanctuary as a sacred place:#:In...
to surrender its ancient rights, with the result that the precincts were largely occupied by most undesirable and dangerous inhabitants. They were held in check by the Abbot's own penal jurisdiction, and by the knowledge that the Abbot could instantly expel them to their fate at the hands of the Common Law: the Abbey Gatehouse was split into two prisons, one of the Abbot's and one for the constables outside. Westminster School
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
displays a royal pardon of Charles II for the King's Scholars who murdered a bailiff harassing the mistress of one of the scholars in Dean's Yard, allegedly in outrage at the breach of traditional sanctuary although it had been legally abolished. The Abbey's Sanctuary extended beyond Dean's Yard, as far as the north side of Parliament Square, where Thieving Lane was named for the local profession. It is not often remarked that HM Treasury is built upon the site of that lane.