Witham Charterhouse

Witham Charterhouse stands in the village of Witham Friary, Somerset, on the edge of the Royal Forest of Selwood. Founded in 1178 or 1179 by Henry II, it was the first of England’s ten medieval Carthusian houses. The priory was led at first by a monk named Narbert from the Grande Chartreuse. Hugh of Avalon, later Saint Hugh, became prior here in 1180. By 1539 the house had been closed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The remains include earthworks that show the layout of the original buildings. Excavations in 1921 uncovered buttressed walls and fragments of glazed roof and floor tiles. Later digs in 1965 and 1968 identified further structures, including what may have been the chapter house and a church. The lay brothers’ church survives as the parish church of Witham Friary. Visitors can walk the rectilinear earthworks that mark the priory’s plan. Stone reused in village buildings still shows medieval tooling. To the east lie the remains of the monastic fishponds. The quiet lanes around Witham Friary frame these traces of a once large monastery.