London’s Alleys: Bennett’s Yard, SW1

This is a short well-used alley to the south of Westminster Abbey that has been home to spies and politicians in its long life.It first shows up as Bennets Yard in William Morgan’s map of London in 1682 as a wide-open space between a cluster of buildings surrounded by fields. As such is likely to have been a working yard space in a farm. By 1746, the whole area is developed, and Bennet’s Yard has acquired most of the alignment that it has today – as a narrow east-west alley bet