The Charterhouse

The London Charterhouse stands on a quiet square in Clerkenwell, a short walk north of the City. It began in 1371 as a Carthusian priory on land once used for Black Death burials. After Henry VIII closed the monasteries, the priory became a grand Tudor mansion. Thomas Sutton, the wealthiest commoner in England, turned it into an almshouse for elderly gentlemen and a school in 1611. The almshouse still houses Brothers today, while the school moved to Surrey in 1872. The Charterhouse witnessed key moments of English history. Elizabeth I stayed here before her coronation in 1558. The Duke of Norfolk was kept under house arrest here after plotting to marry Mary, Queen of Scots. Thomas More came for spiritual rest. In 1941, wartime bombing destroyed much of the Tudor hall and court, but careful rebuilding in the 1950s restored the medieval and 16th-century fabric. Archaeologists later found the founder’s lead coffin beneath the chapel floor. Visitors enter a complex of quiet courtyards and historic rooms. The Norfolk Cloister, built by the Duke of Norfolk, leads to the surviving tennis court. The Great Hall and Great Chamber, rebuilt after the war, show Tudor craftsmanship. The chapel contains the Brothers’ memorials and the physician Henry Levett’s grave. A small museum tells the story from Black Death to modern times. Guided tours reveal how monks, monarchs and schoolboys once lived here.