[1] The monastery was founded in 1873, when the property formerly known as Picknoll was acquired for its construction in order to accommodate two houses of French Carthusians in exile.

[2] The buildings are in a French Gothic Revival style although Pevsner's judgement was that 'the plan is magnificent and can only be properly seen from the air'.

It stands in the centre of buildings including a library with a collection of rare books and manuscripts and a chapter house decorated with images of the martyrdom of the monks' predecessors.

The Great Cloister, about 550 metres (1,800 ft) long, one of the longest in the world, connects the 34 hermitages to the church and the other buildings, embracing four acres of orchards and the monastic burial ground.

[3] The total length of the cloisters is 1,012 m. 500 solar panels were installed in 2024, which are intended to save over 2,300 tonnes of CO₂ over a period of 20 years.