Coventry Charterhouse.
Charterhouse, Coventry (also known as St. Anne's Priory, Coventry) is a grade I listed building on London Road, Coventry.
In 1381 Lord William Zouche of Harringworth, a patron of Coventry’s Carthusian monks, bought fourteen acres of land in Coventry from local lord Sir Baldwin Frevill, for the purposes of building a settlement for his newly arrived order.
The land by the River Sherbourne was chosen as the perfect place for the new ‘Charterhouse’, the English name for a Carthusian monastery from a rough translation of the original French word ‘chartreuse’.
Coventry’s Charterhouse gained its first royal patron after Lord Zouche died. A young King Richard II, along with his queen Anne of Bohemia, declared themselves founders and on 6 September 1385, the king came in person to lay the foundation stone of the Carthusians’ new church.
The original monastery, the Priory of St Anne, was built of local sandstone between 1381 and 1410.
The site included a church, a chapter house, the Great Cloister surrounded by 12 individual monks’ cells, and the Prior’s Cell and refectory, now the main building known as the Prior’s House. Near the Prior’s House there was probably also a guest house, bakery, brewery, kiln house and granaries.
Each monk lived in a self-contained cell, a two-storey dwelling within a small walled garden. Remains of these cells, and of the church, have been discovered through archaeological excavation on site.
As a mostly silent order, the Carthusians embody the virtues of solitude and contemplation, and the monks would have spent the majority of their time alone in their cells without speaking. They spent their time worshiping, studying scripture and praying, attending mass at the church three times a day. The monastery was self sufficient, and the monks grew their own fruit, vegetables and herbs and fished in the river. The outer precinct walls contained not only the religious buildings and living quarters, but also an orchard, a mill, and fishponds.
The peaceful life of Coventry’s Carthusians came to an end in the 16th century with the dissolution of the monasteries, when Henry VIII disbanded religious communities, took over their income and seized their assets. The last prior of the Coventry Charterhouse, Prior Bochard, was forced to surrender the site to the crown on 16 January 1539.
The monks were sent away and the buildings were looted for their resources. Valuables were taken, stone and timber were immediately sold on, and 55 tons of lead was melted down and taken away. The church and many of the other buildings were demolished, but the Prior’s House and precinct walls were preserved and became a private house.
After the Dissolution, the Crown directed Henry Over, Sheriff of Coventry, to protect Charterhouse from looters. Despite this, locals helped themselves to anything they could carry.
In 1542, Henry Over bought Charterhouse for himself. The Over family transformed the Prior’s House from a religious building into a home. This work included creating a second floor by inserting a new floor into the two storey monks’ refectory. Unfortunately, this destroyed part of the medieval Crucifixtion painting that had spanned the entire refectory wall.
In the late 1560s Charterhouse was purchased from the Over family by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, childhood friend, rumoured lover and long serving favourite of Elizabeth I. It is believed that the house was used to house some of the Queen’s retinue when she visited Dudley at nearby Kenilworth Castle. It is thought that Dudley is responsible for the addition of the house’s Elizabethan wall paintings, including a black and white scheme with mythical beasts and a ‘fictive’ painting which looks like a tapestry depicting foliage and fruit. It has been suggested that the central, amour clad figure depicts Dudley himself.
The current building incorporates remains from the charterhouse of St Anne. It contains additions from the 15th and 16th centuries, as well as several wall paintings dating to the same era. It ceased operation as a monastery during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Some of the original window tracery still survives. It was used as a private home from 1848 to around 1940 when it was left as a centre for arts and culture.
The Coach House and Medieval Precinct Wall to the Charterhouse form a group of listed buildings. The Charterhouse itself is a grade I listed building, the precinct wall is grade II* listed, the coach house is grade II listed, and the whole site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
Coventry Charterhouse.
Charterhouse, Coventry (also known as St. Anne's Priory, Coventry) is a grade I listed building on London Road, Coventry.
In 1381 Lord William Zouche of Harringworth, a patron of Coventry’s Carthusian monks, bought fourteen acres of land in Coventry from local lord Sir Baldwin Frevill, for the purposes of building a settlement for his newly arrived order.
The land by the River Sherbourne was chosen as the perfect place for the new ‘Charterhouse’, the English name for a Carthusian monastery from a rough translation of the original French word ‘chartreuse’.
Coventry’s Charterhouse gained its first royal patron after Lord Zouche died. A young King Richard II, along with his queen Anne of Bohemia, declared themselves founders and on 6 September 1385, the king came in person to lay the foundation stone of the Carthusians’ new church.
The original monastery, the Priory of St Anne, was built of local sandstone between 1381 and 1410.
The site included a church, a chapter house, the Great Cloister surrounded by 12 individual monks’ cells, and the Prior’s Cell and refectory, now the main building known as the Prior’s House. Near the Prior’s House there was probably also a guest house, bakery, brewery, kiln house and granaries.
Each monk lived in a self-contained cell, a two-storey dwelling within a small walled garden. Remains of these cells, and of the church, have been discovered through archaeological excavation on site.
As a mostly silent order, the Carthusians embody the virtues of solitude and contemplation, and the monks would have spent the majority of their time alone in their cells without speaking. They spent their time worshiping, studying scripture and praying, attending mass at the church three times a day. The monastery was self sufficient, and the monks grew their own fruit, vegetables and herbs and fished in the river. The outer precinct walls contained not only the religious buildings and living quarters, but also an orchard, a mill, and fishponds.
The peaceful life of Coventry’s Carthusians came to an end in the 16th century with the dissolution of the monasteries, when Henry VIII disbanded religious communities, took over their income and seized their assets. The last prior of the Coventry Charterhouse, Prior Bochard, was forced to surrender the site to the crown on 16 January 1539.
The monks were sent away and the buildings were looted for their resources. Valuables were taken, stone and timber were immediately sold on, and 55 tons of lead was melted down and taken away. The church and many of the other buildings were demolished, but the Prior’s House and precinct walls were preserved and became a private house.
After the Dissolution, the Crown directed Henry Over, Sheriff of Coventry, to protect Charterhouse from looters. Despite this, locals helped themselves to anything they could carry.
In 1542, Henry Over bought Charterhouse for himself. The Over family transformed the Prior’s House from a religious building into a home. This work included creating a second floor by inserting a new floor into the two storey monks’ refectory. Unfortunately, this destroyed part of the medieval Crucifixtion painting that had spanned the entire refectory wall.
In the late 1560s Charterhouse was purchased from the Over family by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, childhood friend, rumoured lover and long serving favourite of Elizabeth I. It is believed that the house was used to house some of the Queen’s retinue when she visited Dudley at nearby Kenilworth Castle. It is thought that Dudley is responsible for the addition of the house’s Elizabethan wall paintings, including a black and white scheme with mythical beasts and a ‘fictive’ painting which looks like a tapestry depicting foliage and fruit. It has been suggested that the central, amour clad figure depicts Dudley himself.
The current building incorporates remains from the charterhouse of St Anne. It contains additions from the 15th and 16th centuries, as well as several wall paintings dating to the same era. It ceased operation as a monastery during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Some of the original window tracery still survives. It was used as a private home from 1848 to around 1940 when it was left as a centre for arts and culture.
The Coach House and Medieval Precinct Wall to the Charterhouse form a group of listed buildings. The Charterhouse itself is a grade I listed building, the precinct wall is grade II* listed, the coach house is grade II listed, and the whole site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.