The Charterhouse

The Charterhouse has been living the nation's history since 1348. Founded as a burial ground for victims of the 1348 Black Death, a monastery was later established on the site which flourished throughout the later medieval and early Tudor period. Following the dissolution of the monasteries the land was seized by King Henry VIII and a wealthy noble named Sir Edward North re-purposed the site as a grand Tudor mansion. Elizabeth I met the Privy Council here in the days before her coronation in 1558 and James I used the Great Chamber to create 130 new Barons before he was crowned. But it was in 1611 that Thomas Sutton bought the Charterhouse and established the foundation that now bears his name. Thomas Sutton’s will provided for up to 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’ as well as Charterhouse School. James I retained his connection with the Charterhouse, becoming the first Royal Governor of Thomas Sutton’s foundation. Since then, the Charterhouse story has continued. Wellington, Gladstone and Cromwell have all been Governors. The Charterhouse appears in the writings of Daniel Defoe, Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray. Indeed, Thackeray, Robert Baden-Powell and John Wesley attended school here. When the school moved to Godalming in 1872, the Brothers stayed at the Charterhouse in Clerkenwell where a community of Brothers remain to this day. In January 2017 the Charterhouse opened a museum to allow visitors to come and discover the rich history of the site.