What You Didn’t Know About Scotland Yard

By | June 11, 2019

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Scotland Yard Motorcycle Patrols in 1955. Source: (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

The name Scotland Yard has become almost synonymous with detective work and police force, thanks to Hollywood movies and television shows. But how much do we really know about Scotland Yard? Did you know that it isn’t in Scotland at all? And there isn’t a yard? Did you know it is home to the Bobbies? And that the Jack the Ripper case is its most famous unsolved case

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Scotland Yard is home to the Metropolitan Police Force of London. Source: (abc.net.au)

It’s in London, Not Scotland

Scotland Yard is the name of the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Force of London, but the name of the building, over time, came to represent the police force itself. One of the organizers of the police force back in the 1830s was a gentleman named Richard Mayne. Mayne lived at 4 Whitehall Place, a private home that opened into a large courtyard. This courtyard was called the Great Scotland Yard because it sat on the site of a former medieval palace that was used by Scottish royalty. Hence, the name Scotland Yard. Just before the turn of the 1900s, the police force moved into a new building, located on the Victoria Embankment. This new building was appropriately named New Scotland Yard.