Charterhouse Square

The 2-acre (0.8 ha) square roughly covers a large 14th-century plague pit, discovered by deep excavations for Crossrail near which, within the main site, the history of the Charterhouse is exhibited in a branch of the Museum of London.

It was established near a 1348 plague pit,[1] which formed the largest mass grave in London during the Black Death, and tens of thousands of bodies were buried there.

Following North's death, the property was bought by Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, who was imprisoned there in 1570 after scheming to marry Mary, Queen of Scots.

In July 2011, English Heritage granted Grade II listed status to the "setted" road surface in the square, which was laid down in the 1860s.

[4] In 2014 evidence of the large burial pit for plague victims dating from 1348 to 1350, the time of the Black death, was discovered under the square by workers building the Crossrail project.

[5] Subsequent analysis of DNA and isotopes from the skeletons of those buried revealed data about Londoners who fell victim to the pandemic, such as their birthplace, diet, and the fact that there were actually three periods of plague burials, from 1348, 1361 and the early 15th century as outbreaks recurred.

[6] Charterhouse gives accommodation as an Almshouse to over forty single pensioners aged over sixty many of whom retain the tradition of having been "military men, schoolmasters, clergy, artists, musicians, writers and businessmen",[7] who are in financial, housing and social need but not in significant debt and keen to contribute to the community.