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. It is a large gated quadrangle, closed to public traffic, chiefly a green upon which the pupils have the long-use acquired exclusive rights to sit, read and to play games such as football. For some centuries until a point in the early seventeenth century it was a third of its present size, since to the south stood the Queen's Scholars' dormitory, which was in monastic times the granary. Its stones support Church House.
Adjoining buildings
East: school buildings
South: Church House, a conference centre and offices of the Church of England
West: school buildings and Westminster Abbey Choir School
North: flanking archway to the Great Sanctuary: Abbey offices and part of the Deanery.
Historically the Abbey was one of the last ecclesiastical sanctuaries to surrender such ancient rights, ostensibly free refuges of asylum, frequently among residents were politically disfavoured and dangerous inhabitants.