More than just a decorative backdrop, the Great Chamber reveals a fascinating story of political allegiances.
The Great Chamber at the Charterhouse was created as the building’s principal ceremonial and reception space. Constructed in 1545 following the dissolution of the medieval Carthusian monastery, the chamber formed part of Edward North’s mansion. It was the setting for royal visits including Elizabeth I in 1558, and James I (and VI of Scotland) in 1603.
After the foundation of Thomas Sutton’s charity in the early 17th century, it became the meeting place of the Charterhouse Governors, who oversaw the almshouse and school. For these reasons, it has been known as the Throne Room, Court Room, and Governors’ Room across the years. This project looks at the heraldry and symbolism of the Great Chamber, examining the political display of the arms and motifs of the Howards and Stuarts that can still be seen today.
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, who owned the Charterhouse 1564-72, introduced his heraldic symbols into the Great Chamber c.1571. This included family coats of arms and the motto Sola Virtus Invicta (‘courage alone is invincible’) depicted in the mouldings on the ceiling. The decorative motifs accompanying the Howard arms include lions and foliage, including a thistle. This raises questions beyond family heraldry. Notably, the association of the thistle with Mary, Queen of Scots, whom many English Catholics saw as the legitimate sovereign of England, and Norfolk sought to marry.
This research project aimed to analyse where the decorative features of the Great Chamber can be interpreted as visual expressions of Norfolk’s political positioning and aspirations, particularly his desire for a union that might reconcile English and Scottish royal lines. The repeated use of thistles across the ceiling is intriguing. This symbol of Scottish national identity was incorporated by Mary, Queen of Scots into the Great Seal of Scotland, and she often used it in her embroidery. Replicas of her needlework can be seen in the Royal Apartments at Edinburgh Castle, and she is said to have gifted a cushion embroidered with thistles to Thomas Howard.
Considered in the context of the sixteenth century, where architecture and interior decoration in great houses like the Charterhouse were used to communicate messages, it is difficult to see these symbols as anything but a political declaration. This interpretation is reinforced by contemporary documentary evidence, including references to visual and embroidered tokens exchanged between Norfolk and Mary, as well as testimony presented during Norfolk’s trial, which confirms the political potency of such imagery.
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, was later implicated in the Ridolfi plot to overthrow Elizabeth I and replace her with Mary Stuart. Letters written in code were discovered at the Charterhouse in his private apartments, adjoining the Great Chamber. He was executed for treason on Tower Hill in 1572.
The addition of a Stuart symbol to the Great Chamber was less controversial in 1626, when the descendants of Mary, Queen of Scots sat on the throne of England. The royal arms of her grandson Charles I, flanked by the initials ‘CR’, Carolus Rex, were painted on the large central panel of the chimneypiece in celebration of the Stuart monarchy, and can be seen there today. This project questioned how the royal arms in the Great Chamber survived the civil war and interregnum. Royal arms in the Chapel and Master’s Court are recorded as having been taken down on the orders of Oliver Cromwell’s government, and the problem is complicated further by Cromwell’s personal involvement with the Charterhouse in the 1650s.
There has been speculation that the panel featuring the royal arms was removed and preserved by the staff until the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, when it was put back, though there is no clear evidence that this happened. Cromwell was a Governor of the Charterhouse between1651-53 and is said to have attended all the Governors’ meetings – usually held in the Great Chamber – during his tenure. He even signed the order to remove the royal arms ‘standing above the gates and in several other places’ and have them ‘defaced’ and replaced with the arms of the Commonwealth. One possibility we have considered to account for the survival of the Great Chamber’s Stuart royal arms is that the act of removal and destruction was a performative one – it was designed to be seen publicly. Perhaps the more prominent arms in the Chapel and Master’s Court were removed and replaced because they were more visible? The Commonwealth arms were slow to be adopted, and it may be that, with nothing to replace them immediately, the Great Chamber arms were simply left alone.
Through this study of its heraldry, the Great Chamber emerges as a carefully curated space of symbolic expression, and despite change over the centuries it remains a remarkably resonant historical interior. Its heraldry offers valuable insight into how architecture and decoration were used to communicate political allegiance and ideological aspiration in early modern England. By situating the Chamber within broader narrative of Anglo-Scottish relations, and later the political context of the interregnum, this research underscores the importance of reading historic interiors as evidence, rather than seeing them as passive backdrops. The Great Chamber stands as a testament to the ways in which power, belief, and identity were inscribed into the built environment.
This post is a summary of research undertaken by Ava Chadderton and Thomas Abel.
The Charterhouse hosts week-long student placements in partnership with the Oxford University Careers Service Micro-internship programme and the Crankstart Scholarship programme, helping students gain experience of curatorial research in heritage.
Each term, we set a group of students a series of research questions relating to the Charterhouse and support them in identifying historical sources and interpreting their findings. In return, we get a set of research reports from the students, uncovering fascinating stories from history.
Photo Will Pryce