Charterhouse Square
Encyclopedia
Smithfield, London
Smithfield is an area of the City of London, in the ward of Farringdon Without. It is located in the north-west part of the City, and is mostly known for its centuries-old meat market, today the last surviving historical wholesale market in Central London...
, between Charterhouse Street
Charterhouse Street
Charterhouse Street is a street in Smithfield, on the northern boundary of the City of London, forming the boundary with both the London Borough of Camden and the London Borough of Islington...
and Clerkenwell Road. It lies in the extreme south of the London Borough of Islington
London Borough of Islington
The London Borough of Islington is a London borough in Inner London. It was formed in 1965 by merging the former metropolitan boroughs of Islington and Finsbury. The borough contains two Westminster parliamentary constituencies, Islington North and Islington South & Finsbury...
, just north of the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
.
The Charterhouse
London Charterhouse
The London Charterhouse is a historic complex of buildings in Smithfield, London dating back to the 14th century. It occupies land to the north of Charterhouse Square. The Charterhouse began as a Carthusian priory, founded in 1371 and dissolved in 1537...
is on the site of a former Carthusian
Carthusian
The Carthusian Order, also called the Order of St. Bruno, is a Roman Catholic religious order of enclosed monastics. The order was founded by Saint Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns...
monastery founded in 1371, by Walter de Manny, on what is now the north side of the square. It was established near a 1348 plague pit, located in the square, which formed the largest mass grave in London during the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
when around half the population died of the plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
. Tens of thousands of bodies were buried here. The name is derived as an Anglicisation of La Grande Chartreuse, whose order founded the monastery.
The Charterhouse was dissolved as a monastery
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
in 1537, and in 1545 was purchased by Sir Edward (later Lord) North (c. 1496-1564) and transformed into a mansion house. Following North's death, the property was bought by Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was an English nobleman.Norfolk was the son of the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. He was taught as a child by John Foxe, the Protestant martyrologist, who remained a lifelong recipient of Norfolk's patronage...
, who was imprisoned there in 1570 after scheming to marry Mary, Queen of Scots. Later, Thomas Sutton
Thomas Sutton
Thomas Sutton was an English civil servant and businessman as well as being the founder of Charterhouse School. He was the son of an official of the city of Lincoln, and was educated at Eton College and probably at Cambridge...
bought the Charterhouse, and on his death in 1611, endowed a hospital (almshouse
Almshouse
Almshouses are charitable housing provided to enable people to live in a particular community...
) and school on the site, which opened in 1614, supporting eighty pensioners (known as 'brothers'). The school for boys coexisted with the home for pensioners until 1872 when Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...
moved to Godalming
Godalming
Godalming is a town and civil parish in the Waverley district of the county of Surrey, England, south of Guildford. It is built on the banks of the River Wey and is a prosperous part of the London commuter belt. Godalming shares a three-way twinning arrangement with the towns of Joigny in France...
in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
. Following this, the Merchant Taylors' School
Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood
Merchant Taylors' School is a British independent day school for boys, originally located in the City of London. Since 1933 it has been located at Sandy Lodge in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire ....
occupied the buildings until 1933.
Today, the Charterhouse Square campus of Queen Mary, University of London
Queen Mary, University of London
Queen Mary, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
is situated to the north-east of Charterhouse Square, occupying the former school lands. This includes student accommodation and departments of Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry
Barts and The London, Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry
Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry is the medical school of Queen Mary, University of London. The school was formed in 1995 by the merger of the London Hospital Medical College , the Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital Barts and The London School of Medicine and...
. The City of London Migraine Clinic
The City of London Migraine Clinic
The City of London Migraine Clinic is a specialist treatment centre for migraine and other primary headaches. The clinic also carries out extensive research and education to improve treatment and awareness.The Clinic has three main objectives to:...
is situated to the South-west of Charterhouse Square.
Florin Court
Florin Court
Florin Court is an Art Deco residential building, situated on the eastern side of Charterhouse Square in Smithfield, London, England EC1M 6EY . Built in 1936 by Guy Morgan and Partners, it features an impressive curved facade, a roof garden and a basement swimming pool...
is a residential building in the Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
style on the eastern side of the square, built in 1936 by Guy Morgan and Partners. It was used as the fictional residence of Hercule Poirot
Hercule Poirot
Hercule Poirot is a fictional Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie. Along with Miss Marple, Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-lived characters, appearing in 33 novels and 51 short stories published between 1920 and 1975 and set in the same era.Poirot has been portrayed on...
, Whitehaven Mansions, in the 1980s TV series based on Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
's crime novels. The building has a curved facade, roof garden and basement swimming pool.
The independent preparatory Charterhouse Square School is on the south side of the square.
Smithfield Market is to the south-west along Charterhouse Street
Charterhouse Street
Charterhouse Street is a street in Smithfield, on the northern boundary of the City of London, forming the boundary with both the London Borough of Camden and the London Borough of Islington...
.
The nearest underground station is the Barbican tube station
Barbican
A barbican, from medieval Latin barbecana, signifying the "outer fortification of a city or castle," with cognates in the Romance languages A barbican, from medieval Latin barbecana, signifying the "outer fortification of a city or castle," with cognates in the Romance languages A barbican, from...
to the south-east.