The differentiation of this area, to the west of the accommodation of their Lordships and the officers of their house and south of the great medieval Westminster Hall, from New Palace Yard to the north of the Hall is supposed to have been made because of that Hall. The Palace of Westminster of which the Houses of Parliament are now the major part was first a royal residence. There was possibly some structure on the islet here in the mouth of the Tyburn used by Knut Sveinsson (more popularly known as Canute) who was king of England from about 1016 until his death in 1035. There was then already a monastic foundation. These slight beginnings were greatly increased by Edward the Confessor (born between 1002 and 1005 died 05/01/1066). He built the first major stone version of the abbey, of which there are substantial remains, and a palace, of which there are very slight remains, for his accommodation whilst supervising the abbey's construction. His bastard nephew, William the Conqueror (1027-87), added substantially to the palace and one of the more obvious remnants of his works, until Sir Charles Barry's re-building works of 1835-60, was a hall which became known as the White Hall (and later the Court of Requests, then in 1801 the House of Lords and from 1835-53 the House of Commons). William's son, William Rufus (1056-1100), didn't add greatly to the Abbey but his great contribution to this area was the original Westminster Hall completed in 1099 (which comprises a major part of the present building). The White Hall and The Westminster Hall each had an adjacent space, court or yard and those were distinguished as being the Old and New Palace Yards because of the 20 to 30 year difference in the time of the Halls'construction in this thousand year history..

O/S Co-ords:3020.7945
Source(s):

Chambers Biographical Dictionary