290 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



the silence speaks of another world. The first indica- 

 tion of its hidden green courts are the mulberry leaves 

 peeping over the worn stone wall, near the gateway 

 which leads to the weathered archway, .the entrance of 

 the old Carthusian monastery. This is the very spot 

 where, with the brutal severity of Tudor times, the 

 arm of the last Prior was exposed after his cruel 

 execution at Tyburn. The monastery, founded in 1371, 

 was dissolved with unusual barbarity, and passed into 

 secular hands. The possession of it by the Duke of 

 Norfolk has left its mark in many of the existing 

 buildings, as he converted it from a cloister to a palace, 

 but its palatial days did not last long. It was bought 

 by the benevolent Thomas Sutton, a portion of whose 

 large fortune, amassed from profitably working coal 

 mines, was bestowed in founding " a hospital for poor 

 brethren and scholars." The scholars have been taken 

 away from the historical associations, to the purer air 

 of Godalming, and the parts of the buildings devoted 

 to their accommodation were in 1872 bought by the 

 Merchants Taylors' Company for their school. The 

 playing field of the boys is the ample space which was 

 enclosed by the cloister of the monastery. Part of the 

 land to the north has been built over, and a tall ware- 

 house overlooks the burying-ground of the monks, 

 which is still a large green sward of hallowed ground, 

 with a row of mulberries. This lies so far below the 

 level of Clerkenwell Road that a flight of steps leads 

 to the postern gate in the high wall, overhung with 

 climbing plants. This " God's acre " is covered with 

 smooth turf, and some day the two walnut trees planted 

 by the master in 1901 may afford grateful shade. It 

 is in keeping with the spirit of the place to plant trees 



