Little Dean's Yard, known to

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It derives from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the 1066 Norman Conquest, as d ...

just as Yard, is a private gated yard at the heart of the school, within the precincts of the monastery of Westminster and on the original Thorney Island, now shared between

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

and the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north bank ...

. To the east is

College Garden College Garden is a private garden of Westminster Abbey in London, open to the public every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoon throughout the year. The hours are 10 am to 6 pm in summer and 10 am to 4 pm in winter. The garden can be visi ...

(which refers to the collegiate body of

, and not only to the school), the oldest cultivated garden in England, and formerly the infirmary garden of the monastery. The entrance to the school, formerly the monks'

reredorter The reredorter or necessarium (the latter being the original term) was a communal latrine found in mediaeval monasteries in Western Europe and later also in some New World monasteries. Etymology The word is composed from dorter and the Middle E ...

, is a stone arch designed by

Lord Burlington Earl of Burlington is a title that has been created twice, the first time in the Peerage of England in 1664 and the second in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1831. Since 1858, Earl of Burlington has been a courtesy title used by the du ...

. A stone path marks the original way, before the rest of the yard was paved, to the low stone tunnel under another row of monastic buildings which leads to

Dean's Yard Dean's Yard, Westminster, comprises most of the remaining precincts of the historically greater scope of the monastery or abbey of Westminster, not occupied by its buildings. It is known to members of Westminster School as Green (referred to ...

. On the north side of the yard is

Ashburnham House Ashburnham House is an extended seventeenth-century house on Little Dean's Yard in Westminster, London, United Kingdom, which since 1882 has been part of Westminster School. It is occasionally open to the public, when its staircase and first f ...

, built by

Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (; 15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was the first significant Architecture of England, architect in England and Wales in the Early modern Europe, early modern period, and the first to employ Vitruvius, Vitruvian rules of proportion an ...

or his pupil John Webb, on the site of the mediaeval Prior's House, parts of which can still be seen. The bricks show marks made by schoolchildren with coins while waiting to enter the school

tuck shop A tuck shop is a small retailer located either within or close-to the grounds of a school, hospital, apartment complex, or other similar facility. In traditional British usage, tuck shops are associated chiefly with the sale of confectionery, sw ...

. A wide archway leads through the Dark Cloister to the Abbey, and the school gym. On the south, three Georgian houses accommodate Rigaud's and Grant's houses, and that of the Master of the

Queen's Scholar The Kings's Scholarships (formerly Queen's Scholarships} are forty-eight scholarships (eight per year until Sixth Form, then twelve per year) at Westminster School, (re)founded in 1560 by Queen Elizabeth I. The scholars take part in the coronatio ...

s. The College to the east was designed by Burlington, with

Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churc ...

's approval after his own design was rejected.

See also