2 9 o 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 Godaiming, 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 w r ith 
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 
