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Charterhouse Cemetery, 14th Century
This drawing of Charterhouse Cemetery by Faith Vardy depicts the cemetery as it may have appeared in the 14th century during the Black Death plague that swept through London in 1348. In the background of the scene, the church of St. Bartholomew's Priory is visible, as is the spire of medieval St. Paul's. The graveyard was uncovered during digging for the City of London’s ambitious Crossrail railway project in 2013. Prior to this discovery, there was some speculation that an undiscovered plague burial site was located somewhere around Charterhouse. Eleven skeletons were recovered at the phase I site of the cemetery, including the bodies of nine adults, one adolescent, and one child. Each of the bodies were laid in rows with their heads facing south-west. Between each grave was enough room for a person to walk, indicating a level of care on the part of the gravediggers. The site is one of several cemeteries dating from the medieval period to the 1700s that were discovered during excavations for the Crossrail.
The Charterhouse itself was a Carthusian Monastery established outside the walls of the City of London in 1371. Some records indicate that the location of the monastery may have been chosen because of the proximity to the plague burial site. The accumulation of land for the monastery occurred piece by piece, over the course of several decades and the last buildings were only completed in 1450. At its founding, there was anxiety among the lay people regarding access to the cemetery that had been created during the plague in 1348. However, the monastery allowed the funerals of lay people to occur in the church and for the laity to visit the cemetery located on the grounds. Unusually, the Charterhouse monks each had their own living quarters; they also gained a reputation for their spiritual and intellectual activities, though like other monastic houses they were dissolved on the eve of the English Reformation in 1538.
Jewel Tower
This reconstruction drawing by Alan Sorrell depicts Jewel Tower as it would have appeared in the late 15th, early 16th centuries. In the image, Jewel Tower is the L-shaped building located in the center of the drawing. The large, buttressed building in the background is Westminster Abbey. Between the two buildings is the Palace of Westminster, also known as the Privy Palace. The Privy Palace acted as the main residence of the royal family from the 11th century to the 16th century. Jewel Tower was constructed in 1365-66 as a treasury of Edward III’s personal valuables. The tower was built at the western end of the royal garden, south of the Palace of Westminster. The land where the tower was constructed had originally belonged to the monks of Westminster Abbey, who were reportedly very disgruntled at losing their land to the king.
Due to the valuables stored inside, Jewel Tower was designed for security. As seen in the drawing, the tower was surrounded by a moat on three sides, which provided an added measure of protection. The first floor of the tower had no windows facing outside of the enclosure. The top floor is believed to have been the storeroom for the precious objects based on its two-door entrance. Today, the Jewel Tower is one of only a handful of surviving London buildings from the medieval era. Small alterations and repairs have been made throughout its lifespan, including after its roof was destroyed during a bombing in 1941. Overall, the building remains almost exactly as it would have been during the 14th century. Often overlooked because of its size, and the surrounding buildings, Jewel Tower is only now becoming the subject of both historical and architectural scholarship.