The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom stands on a site that has provided a desperate form of protection for nearly a millennium. Long before this building appeared, the land was home to the Sanctuary Tower and Old Belfry of Westminster Abbey. In medieval times, fugitives fleeing their pursuers could claim sanctuary here, finding a place of refuge on what was then known as Thorney Island. Today, the street names Broad Sanctuary and Little Sanctuary remain to mark the history of this site as a place where the law once granted mercy to those who reached its borders.