View source for London Charterhouse

{{redirect|Sutton's Hospital|the 17th-century legal case|Case of Sutton's Hospital}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name = The Charterhouse, London
| image = London Charterhouse - Entrance from Charterhouse Square.jpg
|caption = Entrance from Charterhouse Square
| type = Almshouse
| locmapin = Central London
| map_relief = 
| map_caption = Location of the Charterhouse in Central London
| coordinates = {{coord|51.5215|-0.1001|region:GB|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| location = [[Islington]] 
| area = [[London]]
| built = 1371–1951
| architect = 
| architecture = 
| governing_body = Charitable trust
| designation1 = Grade I listed building
| designation1_offname = The Charterhouse, Charterhouse Square
| designation1_date = 29 December 1950
| designation1_number =1298101
}}

The '''London Charterhouse''' is a historic complex of buildings in  [[Clerkenwell, London|Clerkenwell]], [[London]], dating from the 14th century. It occupies land to the north of [[Charterhouse Square]], and lies within the [[London Borough of Islington]]. It was originally built (and takes its name from) a [[Carthusian]] priory, founded in 1371 on the site of a [[Black Death]] burial ground. Following the priory's [[Dissolution of the Monasteries|dissolution]] in 1537, it was rebuilt from 1545 onwards to become one of the great [[courtyard house]]s of [[Tudor London]]. In 1611, the property was bought by [[Thomas Sutton]], a businessman and "the wealthiest commoner in England", who established a school for the young and an [[almshouse]] for the old. The almshouse remains in occupation today, while the [[Charterhouse School|school]] was re-located in 1872 to [[Godalming]], [[Surrey]].

Although substantial fragments survive from the monastic period, most of the standing buildings date from the Tudor era. Thus, today the complex "conveys a vivid impression of the type of large rambling 16th-century mansion that once existed all round London".{{sfn|Cherry|Pevsner|1998|pp=614–620}}

==History==
[[Image:Charterhouse Hospital, engraved by Toms, c.1770..jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.5|The Charterhouse in 1770]]

===Priory===
In 1348, [[Walter Manny, 1st Baron Manny|Walter Manny]] rented {{convert|13|acre}} of land in Spital Croft, north of [[Long Lane, City of London|Long Lane]], from the Master and Brethren of [[St Bartholomew's Hospital]] for a graveyard and plague pit for victims of the [[Black Death]]. A chapel and hermitage were constructed, renamed New Church Haw; in 1371, however, this land was granted for the foundation of a [[Carthusian]] monastery under called "The House of the Salutation of the Mother of God".<ref name=Charter>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22116 ''Religious Houses: House of Carthusian monks''], ''A History of the County of Middlesex:'' Volume 1: ''Physique, Archaeology, Domesday, Ecclesiastical Organization, The Jews, Religious Houses, Education of Working Classes to 1870, Private Education from Sixteenth Century'' (1969), pp. 159–169.  accessed: 10 April 2009</ref> In English, a Carthusian monastery is called a "Charterhouse" (derived from the [[Grande Chartreuse]], the original monastery of the order), and thus the Carthusian monastery in London was referred to as the "London Charterhouse."  As per Carthusian custom, the twenty-five monks each had their own small building and garden. [[Thomas More]] came to the monastery for spiritual recuperation.{{sfn|Ross|2016b|p=33}}

The monastery was closed in 1537, in the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]] during the [[English Reformation]]. As they refused to affirm [[Henry VIII]]'s claim to be Head of the Church, the members of the community were treated harshly. The [[Prior (ecclesiastical)|Prior]], [[John Houghton (martyr)|John Houghton]] was [[hanged, drawn and quartered]] at [[Tyburn]], and ten monks were taken to the nearby [[Newgate Prison]]. Nine of these men were starved to death, and the tenth was executed three years later at [[Tower Hill]]. They constitute the group known as the [[Carthusian Martyrs of London]].<ref>[http://www.ncregister.com/blog/kturley/the-london-charterhouse-murder-plague-and-martyrdom Turley, K.V., "The London Charterhouse: Murder, Plague and Martyrdom", ''National Catholic Register'', March 12, 2018]</ref>

===Tudor mansion===
[[File:London Charterhouse - The Great Hall.jpg|thumb|right|The Great Hall]]
For several years after the dissolution of the priory, members of the [[Jeronimo Bassano|Bassano]] family of instrument makers were amongst the tenants of the former monks' cells, whilst Henry VIII stored hunting equipment in the church.<ref>{{cite journal |first=David |last=Lasocki |title=The Anglo-Venetian Bassano family as instrument makers and repairers |journal=Galpin Society Journal |volume=38 |year=1985 |pages=112–32 |doi=10.2307/841283 |jstor=841283 }}</ref> In 1545, the entire site was bought by [[Edward North, 1st Baron North|Sir Edward (later Lord) North]] (c. 1496–1564), who transformed the complex into a luxurious mansion house. North demolished the church and built the Great Hall and adjoining Great Chamber.{{sfn|Cherry|Pevsner|1998|pp=614–620}} In 1558, during North's occupancy, [[Elizabeth I]] used the house during the preparations for [[Coronation of Elizabeth I|her coronation]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thecharterhouse.org/blog/queen-elizabeth-i-charterhouse/|title=Queen Elizabeth I at the Charterhouse|date=28 November 2017|publisher=The Charterhouse|access-date=6 July 2018}}</ref>

Following North's death, the property was purchased by [[Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk]], who renamed it '''Howard House'''. In 1570, following his imprisonment in the [[Tower of London]] for scheming to marry [[Mary, Queen of Scots]], Norfolk was placed under house arrest at the Charterhouse. He occupied his time by embellishing the house, and built a long terrace in the garden (which survives as the "Norfolk Cloister") leading to a tennis court.{{sfn|Cherry|Pevsner|1998|pp=614–620}} In 1571, Norfolk's involvement in the [[Ridolfi plot]] was exposed after a ciphered letter from Mary was discovered under a doormat in the house; he was executed the following year.<ref>{{ODNBweb |first=Michael A. R. |last=Graves |title=Howard, Thomas, fourth duke of Norfolk (1538–1572) |origyear=2004 |year=2008 |edition=online |id=13941 }}</ref>

The property passed to Norfolk's son, [[Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk]]. During his occupancy, [[James I of England|James I]] held court there for three days on his first entrance into London in 1603.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/progressesproce01nichgoog|quote=King James I Charterhouse 1603.|title=The Progresses, Processions, and Magnificent Festivities of King James the First|first=John |last=Nichols|year=1828|publisher=J. B. Nichols|page=[https://archive.org/details/progressesproce01nichgoog/page/n178 114]}}</ref><ref>[[Susan Doran]], ''From Tudor to Stewart: the regime change from Elizabeth I to James I'' (Oxford, 2024), p. 117.</ref>

===Almshouse and school===
[[Image:A View of the Charter House Taken from the Green 1813.jpg|thumb|left|''A View of the Charter House taken from the Green'', 1813]]
In May 1611 it came into the hands of [[Thomas Sutton]] (1532–1611) of [[Knaith]], [[Lincolnshire]]. He was appointed Master of Ordnance in Northern Parts, and acquired a fortune by the discovery of [[coal]] on two estates which he had leased near [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], and later, upon moving to London, he carried on a commercial career. Before he died on 12 December of that year, he endowed a hospital on the site of the Charterhouse, calling it the Hospital of King James; and in his will he bequeathed money to maintain a chapel, hospital ([[almshouse]]) and school.<ref name=sh>{{cite web|url=https://www.charterhouse.org.uk/about-us/suttons-hospital|title=Sutton's Hospital|publisher=Charterhouse|access-date=6 July 2018}}</ref>

{{anchor|Sutton's Hospital in Charterhouse Act 1627}}
In the ''[[Case of Sutton's Hospital]]'',<ref>(1612) 77 Eng Rep 960</ref> his will was hotly contested but upheld in court, meaning the foundation was constituted to afford a home for eighty male pensioners ("gentlemen by descent and in poverty, soldiers that have borne arms by sea or land, merchants decayed by piracy or shipwreck, or servants in household to the King or Queens Majesty"), and to educate forty boys.<ref name=sh/>

Charterhouse early established a reputation for excellence in hospital care and treatment, thanks in part to [[Henry Levett]], M.D., an [[Oxford University|Oxford]] graduate who joined the school as physician in 1712. Levett was widely esteemed for his medical writings, including an early tract on the treatment of [[smallpox]]. He was buried in Charterhouse Chapel, and his widow married [[Andrew Tooke]], the master of Charterhouse.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9RIJAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22henry+levett%22+charterhouse&pg=PA21 The Roll of the Royal College of Physicians of London, 1861]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ga8YAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22henry+levett%22+charterhouse&pg=PA22 The Roll of the Royal College of Physicians of London, 1878]</ref>

The school, [[Charterhouse School]], developed beyond the original intentions of its founder, to become a well-regarded [[Public school (United Kingdom)|public school]]. In 1872, under the headmastership of {{Abbreviation|Rev.|The Reverend}} [[William Haig Brown]], the school moved to new buildings in the parish of [[Godalming]] in Surrey, opening on 18 June.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/education/charterhouse.html|title=Charterhouse|first=Jacqueline |last=Banerjee|publisher=Victorian Web|access-date=6 July 2018}}</ref>

===Twentieth century===
[[Image:Tomb of Thomas Sutton.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Tomb of Thomas Sutton]]
Following the departure of Charterhouse School, its buildings, on the site of the former monastic great cloister, were taken over by [[Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood|Merchant Taylors' School]], until that moved out in turn in 1933 to a new site near [[Northwood, London|Northwood]], [[Hertfordshire]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merchant-taylors.co.uk/our-activities/education/|title=The Company's Role in Education|publisher=The Merchant Taylors' Company|access-date=6 July 2018}}</ref> The school buildings then became home to the [[St Bartholomew's Hospital]] Medical School, and (though now much redeveloped) remain one of the sites occupied by its successor, [[Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry]]. The main part of the cloister garth continues to be a well-tended site mostly laid to lawn in the quadrangle of the university site.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://londongardensonline.org.uk/gardens-online-record.php?ID=ISL068|title=St Bartholomew's Medical College Green|publisher=London Gardens Online|access-date=6 July 2018}}</ref>

The principal historic buildings of the Charterhouse were severely damaged by enemy action on the night of 10–11 May 1941, during [[the Blitz]]. The great hall and great chamber were severely damaged, the great staircase totally destroyed and the four sides of the Master's Court burnt out. These were restored between 1950 and 1959 by the architectural firm of [[Seely & Paget]], a rebuilding which allowed the exposure and embellishment of some [[medieval]] and much 16th- and 17th-century fabric that had previously been concealed or obscured.{{sfn|Oswald|1959|p=3}}

In preparation for and in conjunction with the restoration project, archaeological investigations were carried out by [[W. F. Grimes]], which led to a greatly enhanced understanding of the layout of the monastic buildings, and the discovery of the remains of [[Walter de Manny]], the founder, buried in a lead coffin before the high altar of the monastic chapel. These remains were identified as Manny's beyond reasonable doubt by the presence in the coffin of a lead ''[[Bulla (seal)|bulla]]'' (seal) of [[Pope Clement VI]]: in 1351 Clement had granted Manny a licence to select his own deathbed [[confessor]], a document that would have been issued with just such a ''bulla'' attached.{{sfn|Knowles|Grimes|1954|pp=48–49, 87–92}}

Charterhouse continues to serve as an almshouse to over 40 older people, known as Brothers, who are in need of financial and companionship support. Since 2017 women have been accepted as Brothers, and the site has been open for pre-booked guided tours; and it is free to view the chapel and museum with chapel services open to the public.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thecharterhouse.org/joining-the-community/|title=Joining the Community|publisher=The Charterhouse|access-date=6 July 2018}}</ref>

===Revealing the Charterhouse===
In partnership with the [[Museum of London]] the Charterhouse opened the site to the public in 2017. There are three key elements: a museum, which tells the story of the Charterhouse from the [[Black Death]] to the present day; a Learning Room and Learning Programme so that school groups can discover how the Charterhouse has been home to everyone from monks and monarchs to schoolboys and Brothers; and a landscaped Charterhouse Square, open to the public so that people can enjoy the green surroundings.<ref name="thecharterhouse.org">{{Cite web|title = Revealing the Charterhouse - the Charterhouse|url = http://www.thecharterhouse.org/revealing-charterhouse/|access-date = 2015-09-18}}</ref> Works for this project were completed and opened to the public in January 2017.<ref>{{cite news | title=London's newest museum remembers plague, persecution and philanthropy |url=https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/londons-newest-museum-remembers-plague-persecution-and-philanthropy-19892/ |access-date=2022-11-27 |work=ianVisits |date=27 January 2021}}</ref>
[[File:St Giles & Holborn Civil Parish Map 1870.png|thumb|upright=1.2|right|Civil parish of Charterhouse (upper right) in the late 19th century. Neighbouring parishes were at that time grouped into Districts, such as St Giles (red) and Holborn (green).]]

==Local government==
Charterhouse was an [[extra-parochial area]], an area lying outside any of the ancient parish units from which London's modern administrative units evolved through a succession of mergers. It was not included in one of the ''districts'' – groupings of civil parishes, brought together for local government purposes – under the [[Metropolis Management Act 1855]]. In 1858, following the [[Extra-Parochial Places Act 1857]] ([[20 Vict.]] c. 19), it effectively became a [[Civil parishes in England|civil parish]] for all purposes, with the provision that it would not form part of any [[poor law union]], but later became a component of the  ''Holborn Poor Law Union'' from 1877 until 1900.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V9FRDwAAQBAJ&q=charterhouse+holborn+union+1877&pg=PA228|title=English Poor Law Policy|first1= Sidney |last1=Webb|first2=Beatrice |last2=Webb|publisher=Longmans, Green & Co|year=1910|page=228|isbn=9783732647361}}</ref>

In 1900 it became part of the [[Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury]], and was abolished as a separate civil parish in 1915. Since 1965 it has been part of the [[London Borough of Islington]] in Greater London.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://directory.islington.gov.uk/kb5/islington/directory/service.page?id=1QD2FDuTU8k|title=The Charterhouse|publisher=Islington Directory|access-date=6 July 2018}}</ref>

==Nearby stations==
The nearest tube station is [[Barbican tube station|Barbican]] but [[Farringdon station|Farringdon]] tube and surface rail station is also close.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.thecharterhouse.org/visit-us/|title=Visit us|publisher=The Charterhouse|access-date=6 July 2018}}</ref>

==Masters of Charterhouse==
List of Masters of Charterhouse since 1611.{{sfn|Roper|1847|pp=[https://archive.org/stream/chroniclesofchar00rope#page/112/mode/2up 112–113]}}{{sfn|Davies|1922|p=[https://archive.org/details/b29827048/page/348/mode/2up 349]}}{{sfn|Porter|2009|pp=133–134}}
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
* 1611–1614: John Hutton
* 1614–1615: Andrew Perne
* 1615–1617: Peter Hooker 
* 1617–1624: Francis Beaumont, appointed by the King
* 1624–1637: Sir [[Robert Dallington]]
* 1637–1650: George Garrard
* 1650–1660: Edward Cressett 
* 1660–1671: Sir [[Ralph Sydenham]]
* 1671–1677: Martin Clifford
* 1677–1685: [[William Erskine (master of Charterhouse)|William Erskine]]
* 1685–1715: [[Thomas Burnet (theologian)|Thomas Burnet]]
* 1715–1737: [[John King (Master of Charterhouse)|John King]]
* 1737–1753: [[Nicholas Mann (antiquarian)|Nicholas Mann]]
* 1753–1761: [[Philip Bearcroft]]
* 1761–1778: Samuel Salter
* 1778–1804: William Ramsden
* 1804–1842: Philip Fisher
{{col-2}}
* 1842–1870: [[William Hale Hale]]
* 1872–1885: George Currey
* 1885–1897: Richard Elwyn
* 1897–1907: [[William Haig Brown]]
* 1907–1908: [[George Edward Jelf]]
* 1908–1927: Gerald Stanley Davies
* 1927–1935: [[William Hayter (priest)|William Thomas Baring Hayter]]
* 1935–1954: Edward StG. Schomberg
* 1954–1961: [[John McLeod Campbell (priest)|John McLeod Campbell]]
* 1962–1973: [[Thomas Nevill (priest)|Thomas Nevill]]
* 1973–1984: Oliver van Oss
* 1984–1996: Eric Harrison
* 1996–2001: Professor James Malpas
* 2001–2012: Dr James Thomson
* 2012–2017: Brigadier Charlie Hobson
* 2017–2022: [[Ann Kenrick]]
* 2022–present: Peter Aiers<ref>{{cite web |title=CCT Chief Executive Peter Aiers announces move to The Charterhouse |url=https://www.visitchurches.org.uk/what-we-do/news/cct-chief-executive-peter-aiers-announces-move-to-the-charterhouse.html |website=visitchurches |access-date=1 April 2022 |date=5 January 2022}}</ref>
{{col-2}}
{{col-end}}

==Organists of Charterhouse==
* 1626–1643: [[Benjamin Cosyn]]<ref>[https://thecharterhouse.org/blog/organist-charterhouse-1938/ 'Organist of the Charterhouse', ''Old Charterhouse Magazine'', December 1938]</ref>
* 1662–1737: Nicholas Love and Thomas Love
* 1737–1752: [[Johann Christoph Pepusch]]
* 1753–1796: [[John Jones (organist)|John Jones]]
* 1796–1837: [[R. J. S. Stevens|R.J.S. Stevens]]
* 1838–1858: [[William Horsley]]
* 1858–1884: [[John Pyke Hullah]]
* 1884–1911: Mary Taylor
* 1911–????, at least until 1935): Harry Hearn Stubbs (he died in 1969)
* 2004–2024: Graham Matthews<ref>[https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2024/11-october/gazette/obituaries/obituary-graham-matthews Graham Matthews obituary], ''Church Times'', 11 October 2024</ref>
* 2024–present: Zosia Herlihy-O'Brien

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:Charterhouse, EC1 - geograph.org.uk - 27285.jpg|The Great Hall viewed from Master's Court
File:Charterhouse altar.jpg|Altar in the south aisle of the Chapel
File:Cloister - Charterhouse Square.jpg|The cloister
File:The Charterhouse gardens.jpg|View of the Charterhouse from the gardens
File:The Great Chamber at the Charterhouse.jpg|The newly refurbished Great Chamber
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[List of Carthusian monasteries]]
* [[Forty Martyrs of England and Wales]]
* [[Carthusian Martyrs]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book
 |first1=Bridget |last1=Cherry |author-link1=Bridget Cherry
 |first2=Nikolaus |last2=Pevsner |author-link2=Nikolaus Pevsner
 |title=London 4: North
 |series=[[Pevsner Architectural Guides|The Buildings of England]]
 |place=London
 |publisher=Penguin
 |year=1998
 |isbn=0-14-071049-3
 }}
*{{cite book
 |first=Gerald S. |last=Davies
 |title=Charterhouse in London: monastery, mansion, hospital, school
 |url=https://archive.org/details/b29827048 |place=London
 |publisher=John Murray
 |year=1922
 }}
*{{cite book
 |first1=David |last1=Knowles
 |author-link1=David Knowles (scholar)
 |first2=W. F. |last2=Grimes |author-link2=W. F. Grimes
 |title=Charterhouse: the medieval foundation in the light of recent discoveries
 |publisher=Longmans, Green & Co
 |place=London
 |year=1954
 }}
*{{cite book
 |first=Arthur |last=Oswald
 |title=The London Charterhouse Restored
 |publisher=Country Life |place=London
 |year=1959
  }}
*{{cite book
 |first=Stephen |last=Porter
 |title=The London Charterhouse: a history of Thomas Sutton's Charity
 |publisher=Amberley
 |place=Stroud
 |year=2009
 |isbn=9781848680906
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lQmwWv5PSTcC
 }}
*{{cite book
 |first=W. J. D. |last=Roper
 |title=Chronicles of Charter-House
 |place=London
 |year=1847
 |url=https://archive.org/details/chroniclesofchar00rope
 }}
*{{cite book
 |first=Cathy |last=Ross
 |title=The Charterhouse: the Guidebook
 |publisher=D. Giles Ltd.
 |place=London
 |year=2016b
 |isbn=978-1-907804-97-7
 }}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |first=Charles |last=Barrett |title=Charterhouse, 1611–1895: in pen and ink |place=London |publisher=Bliss & Co. |year=1895 |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924030618569 }}
*{{cite book |editor-first=Cathy |editor-last=Ross |title=Revealing the Charterhouse: the making of a London landmark |publisher=D. Giles Ltd. |place=London |year=2016a |isbn=978-1-907804-98-4 }}
*{{cite book |first=Philip |last=Temple |title=The Charterhouse |publisher=Yale University Press |place=New Haven, Conn. |series=[[Survey of London]] Monographs |volume=18 |year=2010 |isbn=9780300167221 }}

==External links==
{{commons category|London Charterhouse}}

*{{OS coord|531914_181986_region:GB_scale:5000|Map and aerial photos}}
*{{Official website|http://www.thecharterhouse.org}}
*[https://archive.org/details/charterhouseinp00barrgoog Barrett, Charles Raymond Booth. ''Charterhouse, 1611–1895: in pen and ink'' (1895; Internet Archive)]
{{History of the formation of Islington}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Archaeological sites in London]]
[[Category:Carthusian monasteries in England]]
[[Category:Christian monasteries established in the 1370s]]
[[Category:Cultural and educational buildings in London]]
[[Category:Defunct hospitals in London]]
[[Category:Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation]]
[[Category:Grade I listed almshouses]]
[[Category:Grade I listed buildings in the London Borough of Islington]]
[[Category:Grade I listed educational buildings]]
[[Category:Grade I listed monasteries]]
[[Category:Former civil parishes in the London Borough of Islington]]
[[Category:Monasteries in London]]
[[Category:Religiously motivated violence in England]]
[[Category:1371 establishments in England]]
[[Category:1537 disestablishments in England]]
[[Category:Smithfield, London]]