Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard, though an official Scotland Yard never has existed) is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service, the territorial police force responsible for policing most of London.
It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became the public entrance to the police station, and over time the street and the Metropolitan Police became synonymous. The New York Times wrote in 1964 that just as Wall Street gave its name to New York's financial district, Scotland Yard did the same for police activity in London.
The force moved away from Scotland Yard in 1890, and the name New Scotland Yard was adopted for subsequent headquarters. The current New Scotland Yard is in Victoria and has been the Metropolitan Police's headquarters since 1967. In 2012 it was announced that the building may be sold and the headquarters may move to a smaller site in Whitehall.
Read more about Scotland Yard: History, Current Location of The Metropolitan Police, In Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words scotland and/or yard:
“Four and twenty at her back
And they were a’ clad out in green;
Tho the King of Scotland had been there
The warst o’ them might hae been his Queen.
On we lap and awa we rade
Till we cam to yon bonny ha’
Whare the roof was o’ the beaten gold
And the floor was o’ the cristal a’.”
—Unknown. The Wee Wee Man (l. 21–28)
“He slipped his hand and ran away!
He hadn’t gone a yard when—Bang!
With open jaws, a lion sprang,
And hungrily began to eat
The boy: beginning at his feet.”
—Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953)