8 Secrets Of The Charterhouse

The Charterhouse is one of London’s best historical hidden gems.

The site has an astonishingly rich story, going back to the area’s usage as a plague pit, then monastery, Tudor mansion, school and finally the almshouse that still occupies part of the site today.

All of this fascinating, layered and also living history can be seen today.

I will take you through the Charterhouse’s story but via 8 of the secrets you can see here.

1. The Black Death Skeleton

In 1348, when the devastating Black Death reached London, the site now occupied by Charterhouse Square was designated as a mass burial site for plague victims.

It is thought that as many as 10,000 plague victims are buried under the square.

A small chapel was established for the victims and, out of that, in 1371, the Charterhouse monastery was established here. It was a Carthusian monastery, the name coming from an Anglicisation of the French ‘Chartreuse’. La Grande Chartreuse near Grenoble is the head monastery of the Carthusian order.

In 2013 Crossrail carried out excavations in one corner of Charterhouse Square. They extracted the remains of 25 skeletons, one of which is displayed in the museum.

Tests revealed that he died between the ages of 18-25 and is thought to have moved to London from central or Eastern England when he was 5. He was breastfed as an infant, ate a largely plant based diet and had very poor dental health.

His bones also reveal the presence of Yersina pestis– the bacterium responsible for the Black Death.

2. The Monk’s Cell

The 25 monks of the Charterhouse lived in quarters, off a central cloister, in almost total isolation.

Their purpose was total withdrawal from the outside world: a life dedicated to prayer and devotion. They would only really see their fellow monks on Sundays and were passed food, writing materials and anything else they needed, through the hatch to the side of the door by a team of laymen.

3. A Gruesome Surprise

The life of the monastery came to an end in 1527 with King Henry VIII’s Reformation.

The head prior John Houghton refused to sign the Act of Supremacy, written to make King Henry VIII head of the Church instead of the Pope. Houghton and two other monks were hanged, drawn and quartered for their resistance.

As a warning to the rest of the monks, their heads were displayed on London Bridge. Not only that, John Houghton’s hand was sent back to the monastery and nailed to the doors of the gatehouse above.

This, however, only served to further rouse the monk’s religious zeal and most of the rest were either executed or left to starve to death in Newgate prison.

4. Henry VIII’s Musicians

After the monastery was dissolved, the Charterhouse was used as a Tudor mansion for favoured courtiers.

Some of the first to occupy it were the Bassano family: King Henry VIII’s musicians and instrument makers from Venice.

A recorder made at Charterhouse by the Bassano family was one of the items recovered from the wreck of the Mary Rose, which famously sank in 1545 and was discovered again in 1971.

5. Elizabeth I: Treason, Intrigue and Coronation

Sir Edward North bought the site in 1545 and built the Great Hall and Great Chamber, thus turning it into a grand Tudor abode.

Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, bought Charterhouse in 1564. It was here that he was implicated in the Catholic plot to dethrone Elizabeth I and replace her with Mary Queen of Scots. The Queen’s agents found coded letters and the cypher to decode them (I bet he kicked himself for that one!) under a mat and amongst some roof tiles.

As well as that, it was in this very room, the Great Chamber, that Elizabeth I met with her privy council for the first time to make preparations for her coronation. The Charterhouse was conveniently placed just at the edge of the City, allowing her to make preparations before triumphantly entering through the city gates.

6. The Place Is Covered In Dog Heads

In 1611 the Charterhouse then passed to businessman and civil servant, Thomas Sutton. He was born a commoner and rose up to be one of the richest men in England. Before he died, in that same year, he bequeathed money for the site to become an almshouse and a school.

The almshouse was to be for 80 ‘brothers’: ‘either decrepit or old captaynes either at sea or at land, maimed or disabled soldiers, merchants fallen on hard times, those ruined by shipwreck of other calamity’.

There are still 40 brothers cared for today at the Charterhouse, including, as of the last few years, female brothers.

But, what about the dogs? All over the Charterhouse you will see carved or painted dog’s heads.

The dog comes from Thomas Sutton’s coat of arms, assigned to him after his death.

7. The birth of The Offside Rule?

The Charterhouse was also the site of a school until 1872 when it moved to its current location in Surrey- one of the nine great English public schools.

The cloister, once used by pious monks, then covered over by the Duke of Norfolk as an entranceway to his tennis court, was used as a football pitch by the students.

The Charterhouse school was one of the schools that formed the rules for Association Football in the mid-19th century. The long, thin nature of the space and the windows on one side, means that it has a strong claim for being the place where the off-side and throw-in rules originated.

8. A Half-Charred Door

On your way into the 17th century chapel you will see this half-charred door.

On the night of 10th May 1941, the Charterhouse was hit by an incendiary bomb, causing an inferno to rip through the building.

Considerable damage was caused to the Great Chamber and Great Hall but a quick thinking fire-watcher called Dr Harris shut the chapel door, thus saving it from the flames. It is this half-charred door we can still see today.

How to Visit

You can visit the chapel, museum and Charterhouse Square for free during their opening hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10.30am-4.30pm.

The best way to see the Charterhouse is to go on one of their tours. They have a house tour, garden tour and even a tour run by one of the brothers. Tours run twice a day, 11am and 2.15pm from Tuesday-Saturday, click here to find out more.

If you enjoyed that post, see below for more of London’s hidden gems!