The Charterhouse, a fascinating almshouse
- Admin
- Jun 29
- 5 min read
Updated: 24 hours ago
In the latest of his regular articles on historical religious sites, Will Alkass looks at this interesting site in London.
London never ceases to surprise me, with its rich tapestry of historical places. There is something to discover, admire and cherish in each and every corner and alley. On this occasion, my wife and I took the opportunity of spending a few days in London to visit the Charterhouse, an outstanding historic site combining religious, social and historical landmarks spanning six hundred years of history.
The Charterhouse has a chequered and fascinating history. It started life as a burial place for the victims of the Black Death pandemic in1348. After that it transformed into a less macabre place, becoming a Carthusian monastery until the dissolution of the monateries by King Henry VIII between 1536 and 1541.
At their peak, there were nine Carthusian monasteries in England and one in Scotland.
The name Carthusian is derived from the head monastery in the Chartreuse mountains near Grenoble in the French Alps. This is where Saint Bruno of Cologne built his first hermitage in 1084 in a valley of these mountains. The name was later adapted to the english 'Charterhouse', meaning a Carthusian monastery.
The Carthusian Order
Saint Bruno, along with six of his companions, sought a life of solitude and contemplation inspired by the early Christian hermits. Together they built a hermitage that combined individual cells for personal prayer and study with a shared church for communal worship. This design gives the order its characteristic way of life, where monks and nuns achieve a balance between solitude and community living (ie an eremitic and cenobitic existence). Thus each monk resides in a separate cell where they pray, study and eat alone and only get together with the others for communal prayers and meals on Sundays and Feast Days. This lifestyle allows them to follow their motto “Stat crux dum volvitor orbis” meaning “The cross is steady while the world turns”. Carthusian nuns live a life similar to the monks but with some differences, tending to lead somewhat less eremitical lives, while still maintaining a strong commitment to solitude and silence. The Carthusians don't engage in work of a pastoral or missionary nature. Unlike most monasteries they don’t have retreats, and those who might visit for prolonged periods are people who are contemplating entering the monastery and becoming part of its life. As far as possible, the monks have no contact with the outside world. However they do engage in manual work, like carpentry, gardening and repair work and, of course, the unique job in France of making the alcoholic cordial called 'Chartreuse'.
The drink Chartreuse, which has been produced by these monks since 1737, also gave rise to the name of the associated color; although the liqueur is in fact produced not only as a green Chartreuse, but also as yellow Chartreuse that also differs in taste and alcohol content.
It is reported that the secret instructions for the liqueur were given to the monks as far back as 1605; today the liqueur is produced in a distillery in nearby Aiguenoire. Without giving the secret away, it is composed of sweetened, aged, distilled alcohol, infused with one hundred and thirty herbs, plants and flowers. The recipe is kept secret and is only known to the three monks who make it!
The Charterhouse Monastery in London came to a ghastly end in 1530 owing to the English Reformation. The last Prior John Houghton was imprisoned in the Tower of London, released and then re-arrested and sentenced to death for refusing to recognise Henry VIII as head of the Church of England, along with three other heads of Carthusian monasteries, a monk and a lay brother. Houghton's body was chopped to pieces and his arms nailed above the entrance gate.
Two years later, ten further monks and lay brothers were imprisoned in Newgate and left to starve to death. The last monks left the monastery in 1538.
Fast forward to the present day where there are now a total of twenty-six Charterhouses worldwide, eighteen for monks and eight for nuns.
A new era begins
After the dissolution of monasteries, the Charterhouse became a grand mansion for some of London's noble families. In 1611 Thomas Sutton (1532 – 1611), at the time one of the richest men in England, bought the site from the Earl of Suffolk and founded a school and an Almshouse.
The school occupied this site from 1614 to 1872 when it moved to its current site some forty miles south in Godalming. It originally provided free education for forty poor scholars aged nine to fourteen. Later on, it expanded to take on fee-paying boys and 'boarders'. There were two grades of boys, the “petties” and the “uppers”, with the younger boys serving the older ones in return for protection from bullying. Among the many boys who passed through these gates are two notable figures: John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement and Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Scout movement. The former is said to have hated the two years that he spent at the school!
The Almshouse (or 'Sutton's Hospital') had to remain scrupulously protestant. As the wealthiest charity in Europe, the hospital had to demonstrate the superiority of reformed religion over the old Catholic practices. Sutton's Hospital thus became a showpiece for Protestant English Charity.
Generally speaking, an almshouse was a charitable housing service provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often built for the poor of a locality, for those who had held certain jobs, or their widows, and for elderly people who could no longer pay rent. Today almshouses continue to exist in the UK where sixteen hundred almshouses provide accomodation.
In the United States the changing role of almshouses has reflected broader changing attitudes towards poverty, care, and social responsibility. While they played a crucial role in the past, providing support for the disadvantaged, the traditional almshouse model has now become largely obsolete there.
The Charterhouse in London was opened to the public in 2017. Entrance is free to the chapel and the museum. Visiting the medieval cloister and the library is pre-bookable with a payable guided tour. You can also meet the almshouse residents to chat with them and listen to their stories over a cup of tea. What could be more interesting than chatting with a “senior” about 'the good old days'? Ask a senior!!
