Great Scotland Yard, London

Great Scotland Yard is a street in the St James's district within the City of Westminster, London. This relatively short street links Whitehall to Northumberland Avenue.

This is the street that gave its name to the Metropolitan Police of Greater London, which is called Scotland Yard. The Metropolitan Police force was formed in 1829. It occupied a building at 4 Whitehall Place - the next road parallel to it, but with an entrance at Great Scotland Yard. That was how the Metropolitan Police became known as Scotland Yard. It remained there until 1890, when it moved out of Great Scotland Yard to new premises at Victoria Embankment. At that time, the Metropolitan Police changed its name to New Scotland Yard. In 1967, it moved again to 10 The Broadway, where it is still located today.

How the street Great Scotland Yard got its name is not obscure. The likelihood is that the kings of Scotland used to own properties here prior to the 1707 Union of England and Scotland. Another theory is that a person named Scott lived or owned the property here during the Middle Ages. In any case, Great Scotland Yard has its share of famous people living there including architects Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren as well as poet John Milton.

How to reach Great Scotland Yard

Take the Bakerloo Line, Circle Line, District Line or Northern Line to the Embankment Tube Station and walk from there.

Location map of Great Scotland Yard

List of Streets in London

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About this website

Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.