St Hugh's Charterhouse
Monastery information
Other namesParkminster
OrderCarthusian
Established1873
Mother houseGrande Chartreuse,
Isère, France
Dedicated toHugh of Lincoln
Architecture
Heritage designationGrade II* listed
Site
LocationParkminster,
near Cowfold, Horsham, West Sussex, England
Coordinates50°58′22.84″N 0°16′57.85″W / 50.9730111°N 0.2827361°W / 50.9730111; -0.2827361
Websitewww.parkminster.org.uk

St Hugh's Charterhouse, Parkminster, is the only post-Reformation Carthusian monastery in the United Kingdom. It is located in the parish of Cowfold, West Sussex, England. It is a Grade II* listed building.[1]

History

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. Building took place between 1876 and 1883 to designs by a French architect, Clovis Normand, who had at his disposal a generous budget. The number of monks has varied: 22 in 1883, 43 in 1932, 22 in 1984, and there were 27 monks as of January 2021.[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'. The church has relics of Saint Hugh of Lincoln, Saint Boniface and the Virgin Mary; and an unusually tall 62-metre (203 ft) spire. 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.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Historic England. "ST HUGH'S MONASTERY (1027084)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  2. ↑ "Horsham Year of Culture 2019: "Horsham District Heritage in 100 Objects"". Cowfold Village History Society. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  3. ↑ Christopher Martin, A Glimpse of Heaven: Catholic churches of England and Wales, English Heritage, Swindon, 2006, pp 159-160

Further reading

  • Robin Bruce Lockhart, Half-way to Heaven: The Hidden Life of the Sublime Carthusians (London: Thames Methuen, 1985)
  • Nancy Klein Maguire, An Infinity of Little Hours: Five Young Men and Their Trial of Faith in the Western World's Most Austere Monastic Order (roman à clef, = novel based on real-life stories) (New York: PublicAffairs Books 2006, a division of Perseus Publishing, ISBN hardback ISBN 978-1-58648-327-2, paperback 978-1-58648-432-3)

External sources

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