The Charterhouse — Attraction in London

Hmmm.. If you want to see a Tudor hall there are better examples. It is old. A smallish chapel - some of the floor is old; an Elizabethan courtyard? Look a bit deeper and you find the relics of some of the worst aspects of British society. Obscene wealth, privilege, access to the powerful through invisible doors, inside tracks. Just another symbol of the class system. Elizabeth 1 dined in thw Great Hall. It says it's an Alms house. The occupants live in apartments arranged around the courtyard. You can look at them as they wander about. Like ageing exhibits in a human zoo. Free food served in the Great Hall everyday. Under the gaze of someone who calls himself the Master. He has his own (raised) seat in the Chapel and decides where the inmates sit for their lunch. Then there the governors who keep tabs on the Brothers as they are called. The governance and titles date back to the original Carthusian priory which was built on burial ground for victims of the Black Death. It was largely destroyed by Thomas Cromwell. Then the galactically wealthy Thomas Sutton, Master of the Ordinance of the North under Henry V111 took it over. Turned it into a smart Courthouse and had his friends to tea. When he died he left an enormous legacy to create an Alms House for 80 Brothers and a school for 40 boys. The school moved to a hill in Surrey. No poor boys there and the Brothers ain't very poor either. There is even a woman who has a house in France in there! Then the most bizarre bit. The Masons. London Lodges have been meeting there in the Great Hall since 1611. The Lodge that meets there now still won't let women in. So my advice is don't waste yr money on an institution that has so much already. Hasten the demise of the Masonic Lodges with their absurd rituals and secret induction ceremonies. I doubt the Brothers like being stared at by tourists anyway. And lets hope the (worshipful) Master is not still wandering about amongst the ghosts of Friars long since dead in another 400 years. Maybe encourage him to get rid of that unfortunate embarrassing title. That...

We had our wedding at Charterhouse last Friday. If you're looking for a gorgeous, London wedding venue and a team that will actually make your day stress-free (not just say they will), we can't recommend Charterhouse highly enough.

The spaces are gorgeous - the Norfolk Cloister, the Great Chamber, Masters Court where we did our confetti shot. Our guests genuinely couldn't stop talking about what a beautiful venue it was, even on a very grey October day.

What really stood out was that everyone on the Charterhouse team seemed genuinely happy and excited for us. From beginning to end, even waving us merrily goodbye. It made the whole day feel so special and personal. They are a well-oiled machine, making it all feel easy.

Hannah was our main point of contact and she is an absolute star. Her warm, easy-going energy kept us relaxed throughout the entire day, and she went above and beyond at every turn - approaching it all with such grace and good humor, and navigated all sorts of weather challenges without missing a beat.

Thank you so much,...

I’d highly recommend doing the Tour on the basis that I didn’t and it must be good compared to what I saw. Entry is free to the museum and church. Lovely, except it’s a waste of time. Someone, (please put your hand up and admit responsibility) decided to lay out the museum in reverse chronological order. I’m usually a fan of a contrarian approach and creative thinking but this isn’t really creative. It’s just stupid. History can’t just whimsically be understood in reverse. The narrative is pretty linear in one direction. If we’re to overlook this glaringly, monumentally ridiculous error, the museum still isn’t particularly interesting. It’s small and with pretty meagre descriptive displays. I basically understand the rough outline of the place now but the transitions from one period to another make very little sense. The church is small but nice. You’ll be done within 30 minutes. Do the tour. Maybe the museum was so badly curated to force you to do the tour but in any case just do the tour and don’t waste your time...