New Palace Yard

New Palace Yard
View of New Palace Yard in 2017, looking south-east
Type	Open courtyard
Location	Westminster, London, England
Coordinates	51°30′02″N 0°07′31″W / 51.5005°N 0.1254°W / 51.5005; -0.1254
Area	Palace of Westminster
Built	circa 1100
Governing body	Parliament of the United Kingdom
Location of New Palace Yard in Greater London

New Palace Yard is an open courtyard northwest of the Palace of Westminster in Westminster, London, England. It forms part of the Palace estate and is not open to the public. The yard has existed since around the year 1100, but it has been considerably reduced in size over the years due to the construction of new streets and buildings, most notably the current palace, which was built across the eastern end of the yard in the 19th century. An underground car park used by parliamentarians is located beneath the yard. Prior to the construction of the present Palace of Westminster, the yard was an open public space used for a variety of purposes including speeches, tournaments, pilloryings, and executions. It has twice been the scene of terrorist attacks.

New Palace Yard is situated in the north-west corner of the grounds of the Palace of Westminster. It is bordered to the north by Bridge Street, to the east by the Palace's North Front and Big Ben, to the south by Westminster Hall and to the west by Parliament Square. It is accessed from Parliament Square via the Carriage Gates. Underneath the yard is a five-level underground car park with 450 spaces for parliamentarians' cars, which was constructed between 1972 and 1974 at a cost of £2.5 million. Westminster Hall's north end is accessed via the yard, which is also the site of the Members' Entrance to the House of Commons. An arcade along the east side of the yard gives access to an underpass under Bridge Street that connects to the tunnel running between Westminster tube station and the Westminster Bridge landing stage on the Victoria Embankment.

The yard is laid out as a garden with a formal avenue of lime trees, benches of Portland stone and a central lawn surrounded by an oval roadway. Around the outside are a number of old catalpa trees. A fountain in the central lawn was installed in 1977 to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II and recalls the lost medieval fountain of Henry VI. The fountain stands in an octagonal pool in the centre of which is a large welded steel sculpture by Walenty Pytel. The sculpture is decorated with depictions of birds and beasts from six continents and is surmounted by a gilded crown.