The Garden

 We have a very big garden; so big that it's impossible to get it all in one photograph.

The scale of it is also hard to judge on aerial photographs because trees hid a lot of it, so it's best seen in a clip from this 1928 map.

The garden is marked in red.  It sits to the south of the building which used to be all the Master's house and is now partly his house and, on its western side, residents' flats.  Today only the patch directly to the east of the house is the Master's garden; the rest is open to all of us.  But for most of its existence this whole area was for the exclusive use of the Master and his family, with residents entering only at his invitation.

The brickwork of the wall around the garden shows that it may well have been built in two stages since there appears to be a an extra few feet of height added.  The wall would have been part of the rebuilding of the Charterhouse in the second half of the 17th century after its demolition at the start of the Civil War.  This appears to be when the Master's House was erected and, probably, when our famous mulberry tree was planted.  (There are no records to provide a narrative for this.)  The accommodation for residents was on the northern side of the street, then an unpaved road.  (This range was replaced again in 1780.)  At this stage there were no surrounding buildings, so increasing the height of the wall may have been the response to having neighbours.

The size of the house and garden might have been appropriate when the Master had a large family and servants, but this was seldom the case.  Masters, even if appointed whilst young enough to be family men, stayed until they died, perhaps outlived by a wife.  Visiting grandchildren would have appreciated the garden.  For residents, however, it was the only space, apart from the chapel, where all of them could meet together, and they could only do that if summoned by the Master.  

One such event was held on 29 January 1858 when a tea party was held to celebrate the royal wedding.  Others which may have occurred were not reported until the Mastership of Arthur Chignell from 1919 to 1951.  Rev Chignell supplied the local paper with write-ups of these events.  

1921

This is a snip from a typical piece of self-publicity on 18 August 1921.  The local worthies who attended were, as always, named.  A marquee was erected in case the weather was unco-operative, but there is no mention of chairs for the 120 residents.  

1933

In September 1932 the party was hosted by the Sheriff and his Lady.  Chignell's description of the event is pure propaganda for the joys of living at the Charterhouse.

A similar event in June 1933 is an "annual tea-party", attended by the Lady Mayoress but hosted by Rev Chignell.  This time the weather did not co-operate, but the old folk apparently enjoyed the opportunity to get together.  

The war put paid to these parties, of course.  The Master had his own air-raid shelter in the garden, which survived until the 1980s.  The Charterhouse was closed in 1941 and did not reopen until 1948.  The Master's House and the garden remained closed for another 8 years.  In the debates  about what to do with the ruined house, some wanted to use the space occupied by the house and garden to provide more accommodation for residents, but this didn't happen.  An elderly visitor recalled, a few years ago, that while he and colleagues were laying electricity cables for a nearby building they were frequently "threatened" by hordes of feral pet rabbits in the garden.  While he may have been exaggerating, it seems that pets liberated during the war had bred in the wilds of this space.  A recent drought brought out parch marks on the grass showing that there had been structures on the lawn.  We know that there had been a greenhouse which the Master allowed pupils at the neighbouring school to use for their science studies, and some recall that, lacking a playing field, they were able to use the garden for their sports days.

In the 1970s it was recognised that the rebuilt house was too large for the sole use of the Master and his family.  The western range was converted into flats for residents, and it was probably at this point that the garden ceased to be the "Master's garden" and became an amenity for all residents.  A small patch was retained for the private use of the Master.  We continue to make good use of the garden, at least during the warmer months, for both social gatherings and individual enjoyment.