Summary
The site of the Shene Charterhouse, founded in 1414 by Henry V, re-founded in 1556-9, in the later C16 incorporated into royal stables for the Palace of Shene, and from 1660 to the mid-C18 the site of mansions and their gardens. Demolished in the 1760s to make way for the royal observatory at Kew.
Reasons for Designation
The site of the Shene Charterhouse, founded in 1414 by Henry V, is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Period: Shene Charterhouse was the latest but largest of the medieval Carthusian monasteries, an important royal foundation, that exceptionally was re-founded under Queen Mary and was closely linked to the royal estate in the post-medieval period;
* Rarity: one of only nine medieval Carthusian houses to be built in England;
* Survival: brick footings of the claustral ranges, including the cells, garden boundaries and drainage system, survive. The footprint of the precinct boundary is evident as a parchmark and geophysical anomaly;
* Documentation: medieval and post-medieval accounts, maps and surveys of the site, including building and remedial works, have allowed scholarly recreation;
* Potential: there is high archaeological potential in the remainder of the claustral ranges, the church, outer court or courts, service buildings, precinct boundary and gatehouses and evidence relating to the Marian re-foundation, with the post-medieval royal stables and late C17 and C18 mansions and gardens superimposed upon them;
* Fragility/vulnerability: where monastic remains have been identified through excavation, these remains are at relatively shallow depths making them vulnerable;
* Group value: identified with the sites of Syon Abbey, Isleworth and the royal palace at Richmond as an important medieval monastic landscape.
History
Carthusian order
The Carthusian order of monks was founded in 1084 by St Bruno, arriving in England in 1178. Monks lived a contemplative, solitary life, in individual cells each with its own small garden, but within a monastery that included the usual communal monastic buildings - a small refectory (frater), a chapter house and a church, and supported by a community of lay brothers. Mount Grace, North Yorkshire, founded in 1398, is the best-preserved example of a Carthusian monastery in England while the remains and study of the London Charterhouse, LB Islington, founded in 1370 and constructed from 1371- c1414, provide comparison in the South East. Coppack and Aston, Christ's Poor Men (2002) provides the most comprehensive account of Carthusian houses.
Usually enclosed within a precinct, the principal component of a charterhouse was a rectangular or sub-rectangular cloister garth (great cloister) with individual cells and gardens arranged on three sides, and the church, chapter house, refectory, prior’s cell and sacristan’s cell on the fourth side, adjacent to lesser courts or cloisters. The orientation and plan of the cloister garth varied, dependent on the fresh water supply serving the cells. Provision of fresh water was important as monks drank water rather than ale during periods of fasting, and could involve complex engineering works. A conduit house in the centre of the garth could be architecturally elaborate (London) or a simple structure (Mount Grace). At London and Beauvale, Notts (founded 1343) there were also burials within the garth. Cloister garths vary in size from c 57m sq (Beauvale) to c 70 x 65-81m in the trapezoidal plan at Mount Grace, where there were 15 cells arranged on three sides of the garth. Carthusian cloister walks tended to be narrower than at other orders, ranging from 1.22m (Beauvale) to 1.95m Mount Grace and Axholme (2.5m). There was a shift in design of cells at London Charterhouse and thereafter, based on non-monastic lodgings (Coppack and Aston (2002) p 76 ff). Cells in these later sites were approximately c 6m sq (Beauvale) and 6.4m sq (London, and Mount Grace), each set in the corner of a roughly square garden, ranging from 13m sq at Beauvale,14m sq (London), 15m sq (Mount Grace). At Mount Grace cells were two-storeyed and included living accommodation, a workshop and a covered corridor intended for study or prayer. A separate pentice roof against the cell and garden boundary led to a well or tap, and a latrine linked to a perimeter drainage ditch. Post-medieval records suggest that cells at Shene may also have been two-storeyed. The prior’s cell usually had access to both the great and lesser cloisters or to the refectory; in later monasteries it was of two storeys and on earlier sites commonly built above an undercroft. Chapter houses were rectangular and in the later Carthusian monasteries tended to be small (c 9m x 7.6m at Mount Grace) and again there was no standard position except that they were placed with access to the great cloister and church. The refectory (frater) was usually rectangular on plan, ranging in size from c 6.7m x 7.9m to 9.1m x 11m, and placed on the great cloister adjacent to kitchens and extensive service buildings. Sometimes the frater was of two storeys, with earlier examples (Hinton, Somerset) above an undercroft, later examples such as Mount Grace at ground floor level, at London possibly with a library above.
Churches tended to be small, the earliest examples a simple rectangle on plan, and without a nave, later examples with a choir, central tower and short nave for use by the lay brethren and guests, some with transept-like chapels and some with a vestry or sacristy. Whilst simply detailed in comparison with other monastic orders, they were usually executed to a high standard of craftsmanship.
Beyond the great cloister but with access to the church and communal buildings there was usually one or more courts and occasionally a smaller cloister garth, lined with service buildings, granaries, and accommodation for monks or lay brothers; at London Charterhouse lay brothers were accommodated in a separate, additional range rather than in cells. At Mount Grace a small cloister of cells was added to house extra monks. The structures in the courts tended to be less substantial than the great cloister and built of timber as opposed to masonry although at Mount Grace initial timber buildings were replaced in stone in the early C16. The gatehouse to a charterhouse typically gave onto an inner court and was flanked by guest accommodation, stables and service ranges. Some charterhouses had associated fishponds and mills.
SHENE CHARTERHOUSE
Foundation
The Shene Charterhouse was founded in 1414, one of three important sites established by Henry V in the vicinity of Shene Palace (renamed Richmond Palace in 1501) that included the Brigittine monastery at Isleworth (LB Hounslow). It was the latest and largest of nine successful Carthusian priories founded in England, housing approximately 30 monks and a recluse chaplain, who lived in separate quarters within the monastery. Construction was virtually complete in 1417.
The charterhouse expanded in the later C15, acquiring extra land adjacent to the river; in 1457 new cells were built, and later in the century the church was enlarged.
Post-Dissolution
After the Dissolution the close association with the crown perpetuated and influenced the way in which the site developed in the post-medieval period. Whereas the London Charterhouse resisted suppression, in 1539 Shene Charterhouse appears to have surrendered voluntarily. The monastery passed first to the Earl of Hertford and later to the Duke of Suffolk and a mansion and its appurtenances were built within the grounds. The priory enjoyed a short respite, being refounded in 1556 under Queen Mary (d.1558) before it was closed again in 1559 on the accession of Elizabeth I. In that brief interval the ruinous nave of the church was rebuilt and a new chancel added, and cells were built or restored. Cloake posited (1990 et seq) that a smaller cloister garth was built to accommodate the smaller community of nine or so monks.
In the later C16 the charterhouse was used as an annexe to Richmond Palace. Stables were built in or near the lay quarters and in the early C17 extended and a riding school and coach house added; other monastic buildings were converted to dwellings.
In 1604 James I took back most of the monastery lands to create a new deer park (Old Deer Park) for Richmond Palace. It remained in royalist hands during the Civil War but was sold by order of Parliament in 1649/1650. A detailed survey of 1649/50, coupled with a map of 1635 by Moses Glover provided a detailed account of the site. After the Restoration in 1660, the land was reallocated and monastic buildings were demolished to make way for a succession of substantial mansions and gardens both within and outside the precinct, which were themselves altered and in turn replaced. They incorporated existing monastic structures and made use of fabric from demolished structures. A ha-ha, built by Charles Bridgeman in the 1720s, separated the ground from the river, and a round pond c 41m x 30.4m was created in the later 1720s to the south of it, c 41m south-west of William Chambers’ later observatory building.
Of the principal houses extant in 1750, Buckworth House stood to the west of the great cloister, Jeffrey’s House to the south of it. Their formal gardens were revealed by geophysics (Gater, 1998) and are visible in aerial photos as parchmarks. Selwyn House stood to the east of the main monastic group. Associated with them was a community of smaller houses and service buildings known as the hamlet at West Shene.
The King’s Observatory
Intending to build a new palace in the deer park, in the early 1760s George III ordered the site to be cleared, demolishing the mansions, the hamlet and any remaining monastic buildings. The project was short-lived, but he instead commissioned an observatory to be built so that he could watch the Transit of Venus, forecast for the summer of 1769. The building, designed by William Chambers was constructed in 1768-9 (listed Grade I). Formally arranged blocks of trees, avenues and allées were planted to the south of it and along the perimeter of the former monastic site.
The role of the observatory expanded, meteorological observations starting in 1843. In 1854 a two acre strip of land was added to enclose the site; in 1882 a new licence had been issued to the Royal Society to occupy Kew and the observatory building was subsequently extended; in 1894 the site was extended by a further 5 acres to its current size when the surrounding land became a public open space and the Royal Mid Surrey golf course was laid out. Within the observatory site surface structures and buildings were added in the later C19 and early C20. With reference to MOLA (2010), these included the meteorological hut of 1854 (1y), a second meteorological hut, 1896 (1z); an underground laboratory of 1930 (1x) and 1960s subterranean seismology building (1v). The meteorological site closed in 1980 and was offered for sale in 1981, becoming offices.
Documentary record and historical research
The history of the site is well-documented, increasingly so from the post-medieval to modern period, and conjectural plans of its structure and development, based on analysis of primary sources, have been set out in great detail by John Cloake (updated in Cloake, 1990, 2009) and formed the basis of his contribution to the archaeological desk-based assessment (MOLA Jan 2010).
Key documents to understanding the medieval site are an account by William of Worcester from the reign of Edward IV (late C15), accounts of the 1550s rebuilding, Moses Glover’s map (1635) and a Survey of Shene Monastery, January 1649/50 (Cloake 1990, Appendix 3). Assignments of property dated 12 December 1661 and 1702 (Cloake 1990, Appendices 1 and 2) account for later C17 development at Shene.
Plan and structure derived from primary documentary sources
Principal buildings were constructed of brick with stone dressings. An account by William of Worcester in the later C15 described a great cloister comprising about 30 cells set round four sides, each side measuring 200 paces, the cloister walls c9 yards high, and the nave of the church 60 paces in length. The church, enlarged in the later C15, and virtually rebuilt in the 1550s, included a nave, chancel and tower.
According to Glover, by 1635 buildings were concentrated round two small courts in the centre of the site, reached by a route enclosed by buildings from the south, with further groups of buildings to the west and north and surrounded by walled enclosures. To the north of the site walls enclose a passage or route from the river to a possible watergate. To the east was an enclosure (Great Frayle) separated from the monastic buildings by a north-south wall.
The 1649/50 survey described the plan of a building known as the Prior’s Lodging, laid out traditionally with a hall, passage and services, adjacent to Crown Court; the stable yard known as Little Frayles, and its associated barn, coach houses and stables; an enclosed area known as the Great Frayles (c10 acres); the surviving water system; the ruinous church; the whole site, presumed to be the former monastic precinct, covering c 32 acres and enclosed by a brick walls that are ’a great ornament of special use’.
Antiquarian and early C20 investigation
In 1862-3 a brick built structure, 14 ft long 3’2” wide and 6’ high [4.2m x 0.9m x 1.8m] ‘slightly on the curve’ [ie vaulted] constructed of narrow brick was excavated but not plotted.
Investigations in 1893 claimed to reveal traces of walls, including a north-south wall in the ‘paddock,’ later the golf course practice ground. Again these were not precisely documented but Cloake conjectured that these related to the plan of the cloisters.
In the mid-1920s an area of approximately 12ft x 10ft [3.6m x c3m] of intricately patterned stone mosaic, assumed to be part of the church floor, was exposed under the 14th fairway.
In 1927 Dr WM Tapp FSA, excavating along the western north-south boundary between the golf course and observatory revealed foundations of a considerable building and an underground chamber. No records of the excavation or of the finds survive, apart from a brief OS record card from the 1920s, but the chamber appears to correlate with the western latrine, excavated in 2013, where there was evidence of C20 disturbance.
Building materials, carved stone architectural fragments and medieval pottery including a near complete Bellarmine jar have been exposed in works to the golf course.
An account in the local press in 1956 that appears to be a synthesis of the early excavations, described cells with pointed brick doors and rounded arches and an underground passage 5’6” high and 9’9” [1.6m x 2.9m] wide and a tiled floor together with a plan, said to derive from the 1890s excavation.
Although none is recorded accurately, these excavations and the accidental exposure of archaeological remains on the golf course suggest the presence of foundations, robbed out trenches, drains and cesspits relating to the charterhouse.
Recent survey and excavation
Aerial photography
Photographs (9 September 1929) show an E-W linear feature, interpreted as the northern boundary of the monastic site and the main north-south division between the monastic buildings and gardens. Photographs (September 1948 and May 1971) and on Google maps (2012) show rectilinear boundaries, probably monastic in origin, that define the boundary of the site, and shallow earthworks and parchmarks to the west of the observatory site that predominantly relate to C17 and C18 garden features.
Aerial photographs informed an RCHME mapping project to plot buried features (1993); considered predominantly to represent post-Dissolution linear boundaries recorded on historic maps, they may however reflect medieval boundaries.
Geophysics
A magnetometer and resistivity survey within the Observatory site (David, 1983) identified anomalies that although not clearly defined were consistent with the north-east corner of the cloister and cells arranged round it.
A geophysical survey of the projected site of the charterhouse, to the south and west of the King's Observatory (Gater,1998), revealed a complex of anomalies of archaeological interest. The features are laid out on a similar alignment, but do not tally with early maps. They are obscured by later works, thought to relate to the golf course, but clearly visible are formal gardens related to Buckworth House, to the west of the site. Enclosing them are regular features that may relate to structures of medieval origin. To the south-west of the Observatory, within the practice area are areas of high resistance within a similar framework of linear features that might relate to cells and other possible priory buildings.
LIDAR coverage shows the rectilinear boundary of the site, and later boundaries, and a smaller enclosure to the south-east within the golf course. Within the King’s Observatory site the north-south alignment of the former terraced gardens is clearly visible. None of the individual monastic buildings or the cloisters stands out.
Excavation and evaluation
An archaeological desk-based assessment by Robert Cowie and John Cloake (MOLA, Jan 2010) was commissioned by the owner of the King’s Observatory to inform proposed development at the site, namely the conversion of the Observatory building (1768-9 by William Chambers for George III, listed Grade I) from office use to a dwelling and the creation of a landscaped garden, including a lake and boundary ha-has.
To inform the evaluation, a geophysical survey (Stratascan, 2011) of c0.5 ha area to the south of the mansion, on the site of the proposed lake, revealed areas of high resistance, but these predominantly correspond with C20 use of the site and modern drainage as the core of the monastic site lay to the west.
Evaluation trenches dug in the centre of the Observatory site to the south of the King's Observatory (MOLA, Aug 2011), in the south-west corner of the site (MOLA, Jan 2012) and further excavation in 2013 (MOLA, Jan 2015), established the north-east corner of the cloister garth and related cells, gardens and latrines and the northern precinct boundary. No burials were found in the excavated area but based on evidence from similar sites, it is likely there will be burials within the precinct. The medieval layers are overlain with features that relate to the C17 and C18 mansions, service buildings, gardens and settlement.
Interpretation
Based on comparison with other Carthusian sites and detailed examination of the documentary record for Shene, notably the late C15 account of William of Worcester, Glover’s map of 1635 and the survey of 1649/50, Cloake created a series of plans of the site (Cloake 2009). The site was enclosed by a brick boundary wall and subdivided into smaller enclosures and courts. Monastic buildings covered the western half of the site, approached from a gatehouse to the south. The great cloister lay to the north-east, with the church, chapter house, and prior’s cell in the south range, the refectory to the west, and further cells added in 1457 to the south of the church. He placed the lay brothers cells to the west of the cloister, and a watergate to the north-west aligned to the north of the main gatehouse. Also included was a procurator’s cell, south of the west end of the church, south of it the house built by Dean Colet in 1518-19, and a reclusory in an enclosure south-east of the church. The eastern half of the site comprised gardens, on land known as the Great Frayle(s). Glover’s view shows a dovecot or pavilion built into the inner north-south wall.
Cloake postulated that the cloisters, and the arrangement of individual cells and gardens set round them, would have been built against the northern boundary wall, and that this arrangement was rebuilt on a smaller scale, closer to the church, during the brief Marian reinstatement. This plan is at variance with the archaeology which places the cloisters c16m further south than the model proposes, leaving a gap between the gardens and northern precinct boundary, but similarly there is space between what appears to be eastern garden boundaries and a distinct north-south boundary running through the site.
The archaeological project within the King's Observatory site was set up to establish with minimum intrusion the broad area of archaeological potential of the site, preserving the buried remains undisturbed and in situ. Further investigation would be needed to establish the precise extent and plan of the monastic site and C16 Marian rebuilding within it.
The site is on the Crown Estate and within a local authority designated Area of Archaeological Potential – Priority 1. Shene lies within Richmond Old Deer Park Registered landscape (Grade I), adjacent to the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew World Heritage Site; the King’s Observatory building is listed at Grade I.
Details
The site of Shene Charterhouse, founded 1414 by Henry V.
The site of the buried remains of the charterhouse at Shene lies on alluvium over sand and gravel (First River Terrace), c5m above OD, immediately to the east of the River Thames. The scheduled site covers a sub-rectangular area within the southern half of the King’s Observatory and beneath the 14th green and adjacent practice ground of the JH Taylor Course at the Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Course. It represents part of the 32 acre former monastic site identified in 1649/50 and confirmed by aerial photos, geophysics and excavation.
Within the south-west corner of the King's Observatory site brick foundations and robber trenches form the north-east corner of the cloister garth. The north cloister walk was c3 m wide, its south wall buttressed. Cells to the north of the cloister are c7.8 m north-south, and presumed to be roughly square on plan. A north-south wall extending beyond the cells is interpreted as the garden boundary wall or wall of a covered walk. At the end of the gardens, c20 m north of the cloister walk, each cell has a brick built latrine and drain. The east claustral range is evident as geophysical anomalies and its plan, with a similar arrangement of cells and gardens, can be predicted from evaluation pits. A robber trench c38 m east of the western boundary of the King's Observatory and c20m east of the cloister has been suggested as the eastern boundary of the gardens. However a further north-south robber trench c47 m east of the western boundary may equally mark the boundary between the claustral range and enclosures to the east. Detected as a geophysical anomaly, also visible on aerial photographs, the boundary continues c150m south (beyond the scheduled area) meeting a linear east-west feature, potentially the southern precinct boundary. Footings of walls and brick vaults, that may represent rear walls and latrines or drains serving the east claustral range, extend c68m southwards along this projected north-south boundary; they were plotted on the OS record card. A robber trench and foundations of a brick boundary wall, aligned roughly east-west, appears to represent the northern precinct wall, continuing to east and west where it is visible as a parchmark.
Structures were principally of brick, with moulded Reigate and Caen stone dressings and fittings, unglazed tile roofs and plain yellow or brown glazed floor tiles, using materials generally of a type dating from 1400-1600 and of a type consistent with monastic buildings. There is associated pottery of a similar date range.
Antiquarian excavations and the accidental exposure of archaeological remains on the 13th and 14th fairways and practice ground of the golf course record the presence of foundations, robbed out trenches, water courses, drains and cesspits relating to the charterhouse, and of tiled flooring possibly related to the church.
A rectangular feature to the west of the Observatory site beneath the 14th green, marked E on the RCHME map (1993) is thought to represent post-medieval gardens, with the probability that these were built on the monastic footings.
Parallel linear features (outside the scheduled area) visible on aerial photographs, mark the east boundary of the precinct; the inner boundary is potentially the precinct wall, the outer boundary is marked on C18 maps, but is possibly of medieval date. Similarly an east-west anomaly lying between the southern boundary of the King's Observatory and suggested southern boundary of the precinct is marked on a map of 1771 but may be of medieval origin.
Extent of scheduling
The scheduled site is a roughly rectangular area of c168 m north-south by c152 m east-west. It is defined to the north by the northern precinct boundary which lies c100m north of the southern boundary of the King's Observatory. The eastern boundary is determined by the robber trench c47 m east of the western boundary of the Kings Observatory, that aligns with a geophysical anomaly and previously recorded evidence of brick vaults or drains and wall footings extending c68 m to the south of the King's Observatory grounds. The southern boundary is defined by the known extent of archaeology and anomalies that relate to features within and defining the precinct. To the west, the scheduled area extends c105m into the golf course to include the clearly defined rectangular feature recorded on aerial photos and geophysics (RCHME 1993; Gater, 1998). A buffer zone of 2m is added to the boundaries of the scheduled area.
Exclusions
Fences, tarmac surfaces, meteorological huts and above ground structures associated with the former Royal Observatory and bunkers, posts, pins and signage associated with the Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Course are excluded from the scheduling. The ground beneath all these structures is, however, included.
