What a little gem we discovered when we walked round the corner from Faringdon Underground Station. Maggie had booked an Art and Architecture tour of Charterhouse. We found ourselves in Charterhouse Square, a very sedate part of the City of London, entering Tudor style buildings, fronted by a knot garden.
We learnt that the name Charterhouse is a corruption of the French town ‘Chartreuse’. After the Reformation, an order of Carthusian monks from Chartreuse was housed in the building. One of the ‘public’ rooms is in the footprint of the monastery’s refectory. The original Tudor buildings suffered significant bomb damage during WW2. They have been sympathetically restored and now demonstrate the colour and ornate detail that would have been seen in that period.
In the Chapel we found memorials to famous past scholars of Charterhouse School. Among them are Baden-Powell (Scouting movement), Robert Boyle (chemist), William Beveridge (social reformer), Robert Graves (poet and novelist), David and Jonathan Dimbleby (TV presenters), Ralph Vaughn-Williams (composer). The school was founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 on the site of the monastery. Today, the school is an independent, boarding school in Godalming. Many of our groups were surprised. We thought the school was still in the City of London!
Our day continued with lunch in a pie and mash shop …
… and a bonus visit to St Bartholomew’s, just the other side of Smithfield meat market. In the church we were able to appreciate the atmosphere, architecture and artwork to the strains of a professional music group, including a singer, in rehearsal for a concert in the church, that evening.
Although St Bartholomew’s is London’s oldest parish church, it houses some very modern pieces of artwork.
Thank you, Maggie, for leading an inspiring day out.
Jackie Wiggins