The Worshipful Company of Paviors moved into a new
home in June 2010. The Company has a long lease,
with a five-year break, on a Grade 1 listed property
formerly known as ‘The Master’s Cottage’ at Sutton’s
Hospital in Charterhouse, Charterhouse Square,
London EC1. It took the Paviors 344 years to find a
suitable replacement for its previous property, which
was burnt down during the Great Fire of London. The
property has been refurbished and is now known as
Paviors’ House.
The property provides
accommodation on two floors. At ground
level, there is an office with two desks,
computer and internet facilities, a toilet
and shower-room, and a mini kitchen. On
the second floor is a meeting room, with a
table and chairs. The room also houses
the Master’s chair and an exhibition of
some of the Company’s artefacts. The
Company’s Royal Charter hangs in the
room. The office and meeting room are
available for the use of Liverymen and
details of how to take advantage of this are
posted in the Members’ Area of this website.
The Company retains its very
strong links with the Cutlers Company and
Hall, where the archives continue to be
stored. The Company also continues its
policy of using the major Livery halls for
formal dinners.
The site of Sutton’s Hospital was
originally a burial ground for victims of
the Black Death. In 1371, a Carthusian
priory was established on the site by Sir
Walter de Mauny, one of Edward III’s
senior advisers. A prior and 24 monks
were accommodated in two-storey houses
arranged around a characteristically large cloister. The church, built
alongside the burial ground, became the priory church. Henry VIII’s
Chancellor, Sir Thomas More, frequented Charterhouse as a young student,
as it was an important centre of ecclesiastical learning.
In 1535, the monks refused to conform to Henry VIII’s Act of
Supremacy and some were executed at Tyburn. The monastery was
dissolved and the property passed to the Crown. It was subsequently
granted to Lord North, who converted it into a Tudor mansion, and was
subsequently sold to the fourth Duke of Norfolk. Both Queen Elizabeth I
Entrance to Charterhouse from
Charterhouse Square
and King James I stayed at Charterhouse and a number
of State functions were held there during this period.
Thomas Sutton acquired the property in 1611
from Norfolk’s son, Thomas Howard. Sutton had held
the position of Master of the Ordnance in the north
from 1568 to 1594 and was involved in the coal trade.
Advantageous property dealings and money-lending
had enabled him to amass a considerable fortune, and
he was said to be the wealthiest commoner in England.
He used much of his wealth to endow a charitable
foundation, based at the Charterhouse, to educate boys
and care for elderly men, known as the ‘Brothers’.
John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, was a
pupil at Charterhouse as was William
Makepeace Thackeray.
Entrance to Charterhouse from Charterhouse Square
Charterhouse School moved to
Godalming Surrey in 1872, when Robert
Baden-Powell was a student. The site was
divided at that time, but the almshouses
continue to this day to occupied land to the
west. Merchant Taylors’ School occupied
land to the east until 1933, when this part
of the site was taken over by St
Bartholomew’s Hospital. Barts now shares
the site with the London School of
Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary
College.
Features of the buildings are the
Chapel and Great Hall, the latter retaining
its Tudor fire-place and wooden screen.
The buildings sustained much damage
during World War II, and the woodwork of
the screen in the Great Hall still shows
scorch marks which were a result of an
incendiary bomb during the Blitz. In 2000,
the Admiral Ashmore Building was built to
house 14 Brothers and two new buildings
were restored at the south west of
Preacher’s Court. Further building work
the following year provided a larger
infirmary for the Brothers. The current
Master of Charterhouse is Dr James
Thomson. A music programme and other events are held at the
Charterhouse and details of these are given on their web-site
www.thecharterhouse.org.
Thomas Sutton Memorial in the Chapel
Charterhouse Buildings
Dining in the Great Hall, Charterhouse
Tudor Screen in the Great Hall