The Palace of Westminster: Abingdon Street Gardens, Jewel Tower and Old Palace Yard (also known as College Green (Abingdon Street Gardens))

Introduction

A strip of lawn bisected by a path, the Green contains Henry Moore's sculpture 'Knife Edge Two Piece' (1967). To the north is the C14th Jewel Tower with a fragment of moat and medieval quay, beyond which is another remnant of Old Palace Yard, laid out as a simple lawn with 2 mature plane trees and a memorial Portland stone statue of George V by Sir William Reid Dick, set on an imposing base designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (1947). This area of garden abuts the rear of Westminster Abbey's octagonal C13th Chapter House. It is overlooked from the south by two fine C18th stone-fronted houses in Palace Yard.