Charterhouse

Charterhouse is a Grade I listed 14th century Carthusian priory and refectory, which was founded in the late 14th century by the monk Robert Palmer. Charterhouse is the English name for a Carthusian Monastery, reflecting a religious order that originated in France, which is a strict monastic order centred around a life of solitude, silence, and religious contemplation. The order spread throughout Europe in the medieval period, but only 9 Carthusian monasteries were ever built in England. Charterhouse would have been home for up to 12 monks and several lay brothers, with its foundation stone laid by Richard II in 1385. Each monk lived in an individual cell, two storeys high with separate spaces for worship, studying, sleeping and eating.

During the 15th and 16th century it had numerous Royal benefactors, which included Richard II and Henry VII. The dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s marked the end of Charterhouse’s use as a priory and saw the destruction of the original monastery buildings. In the 1560s Charterhouse was bought by Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, who added a second floor and commissioned the upstairs murals. During the 18th century Charterhouse became the home to John Whittingham, a local horticulturalist working for the Inge family who owned the building at the time. It changed hands regularly in the 19th century, the last private owner being local philanthropist Colonel Sir William Fitzthomas Wyley. The Wyley family owned Charterhouse from the 1890s, and upon his death in 1940 Colonel Wyley bequeathed the house and grounds to the people of Coventry.

Its main historical significance lies in the archaeological remains in the grounds of a former Great Cloister alongside the rare medieval and Elizabethan wall paintings in the refectory. In 2011 the Charterhouse Preservation Trust was formed who acquired the buildings and some land, who made alterations to keep it up.

Find out more on our website: https://www.historiccoventry.org.uk/project/charterhouse/