History of Charterhouse
• Burial Ground 1349 (during Black Death) – 1371 • Carthusian Priory – The London Charterhouse 1371 – 1538 • Tudor Mansion 1545 – 1611 • Almshouse and School founded by Thomas Su on 1611 to the present day
The site upon which the Charterhouse (formally known as Su on’s Hospital in Charterhouse) stands was acquired in the middle of the fourteenth century as a burial ground for the vic ms of the Black Death. As not all the space was used, in 1371, a Carthusian Monastery was established here by Sir Walter de Manny, one of Edward III’s senior advisers. A Prior and twenty-four monks were accommodated in two- storey houses arranged around a characteris cally large cloister, and the church built alongside the Burial Ground became the priory church. In 1535 the monks refused to align themselves with Henry VIII’s Act of Supremacy and some were executed at Tyburn in a most brutal way. The monastery was suppressed and passed to the Crown. Subsequently it was granted to Lord North, who constructed a fine Tudor mansion which was later sold to the fourth Duke of Norfolk, who further embellished it.
In 1611 Norfolk’s son, Thomas Howard, first Earl of Suffolk, sold the mansion to Thomas Su on, building Audley End in Essex with the proceeds. Su on was said to be the wealthiest commoner in England. He had held the post of Master of the Ordnance in the Northern Parts from 1568 to 1594 and his involvement in the coal trade, advantageous property dealings and money lending had allowed him to amass a considerable fortune. He used much of his wealth to endow a charitable founda on to educate boys and care for elderly gentlemen. The school developed to such an extent that in 1872 it moved to a new site in Godalming, near Guildford, Surrey.
The Charterhouse sustained much damage during the Second World War but was faithfully restored by the architects Seely and Paget, opening its doors again in 1951. Addi onal accommoda on completed in 2000 and the reloca on of the exis ng infirmary has meant that there is now further accommoda on available for the Brothers of Charterhouse.
Brothers of Charterhouse
The Brothers of Charterhouse are a residen al community of fit single men over sixty years of age. Originally for those who could supply ‘good tes monye and cer ficat of theire good behaviour and soundnes in religion’, those who had been servants to the King ‘either decrepit or old captaynes either at sea or land’, maimed or disabled soldiers, merchants fallen on hard mes, those ruined by shipwreck or other calamity, the community now consists of former teachers, musicians, writers, clergymen etc.
Each Brother is provided with en suite accommoda on. Breakfast, lunch, tea and supper are served daily in the Great Hall. The communal areas include a day room, library, Chapel and a beau ful secluded garden. Holy Communion is celebrated on Sundays and all major Holy Days. Morning and Evening Prayer is said daily from Monday to Saturday.
The Brothers have their own burial ground beside the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin, Li le Hallingbury [near Bishops Stor ord] in Essex - the village where Thomas Su on had ini ally decided to build his ‘hospital’.