3-101-176 - "Royal Academy of Arts, London"/Heritage Images

Charterhouse - Great Hall, chimneypiece, c1880. The London Charterhouse is a historic complex of buildings in Clerkenwell, London, dating from the 14th century. It was originally built as a Carthusian priory, founded in 1371. Following the priory's dissolution in 1537, it became one of the great courtyard houses of Tudor London. In 1611, the property was bought by Thomas Sutton, a businessman and "the wealthiest commoner in England", who established a school for the young and an almshouse for the old. The almshouse remains in occupation, while the school was re-located in 1872 to Godalming, Surrey. '...The chimneypiece is of [Thomas] Sutton's time; the canon and powder barrels convey an allusion to his office of the Master of the Ordnance.' Description by Alfred Marks.