Charlton House is a Jacobean building in Charlton, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich in south-east London. Originally it was a residence for a nobleman associated with the Stuart royal family. It later served as a wartime hospital, then a museum and library, and is now run by Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust.

History

The house was built in 1607–12 of red brick with stone dressing, and has an "H"-plan layout. The interior features contemporary staircases, panelled rooms, ornamental ceilings and chimney pieces. It was built by the crown to house Sir Adam Newton and his royal charge. He was then Dean of Durham and tutor to Prince Henry, the son of James I, and older brother of the future Charles I. Greenwich Palace, where their mother lived much of the time, was nearby. But the prince died almost as soon as the house was finished, in 1612. Newton became Receiver-General, sold his office as dean, and in 1620 became a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

. The diarist

John Evelyn John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diary, diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society. John Evelyn's Diary, ...

, who knew the house and was well acquainted with Newton's son, Sir Henry Newton, stated that the house had been built for Prince Henry. Because of Sir Adam's court connections, the designer of the house is often presumed to be John Thorpe, one of the first professional English

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

s, who had served as Clerk of Works for the royal palace at nearby

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

– the

Palace of Placentia The Palace of Placentia, also known as Greenwich Palace, was an English royal residence that was initially built by Prince Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, in 1443. Over the centuries it took several different forms, until it was turned into a ho ...

. Thorpe had left the Office of Works in 1601 for private practice. Other royal connections are seen at Charlton House in the form of the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

's feathers above the east door to the hall and in the saloon, where there is also the royal monogram, "JR" (for James I); the royal Stuart

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

in the west bay; and the Garter and Prince of Wales's motto, " Ich Dien" in the east bay. The garden house, or

orangery An orangery or orangerie is a room or dedicated building, historically where orange and other fruit trees are protected during the winter, as a large form of greenhouse or conservatory. In the modern day an orangery could refer to either ...

, which has been converted into a public toilet, is optimistically attributed to

Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was an English architect who was the first significant Architecture of England, architect in England in the early modern era and the first to employ Vitruvius, Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmet ...

, who is not otherwise connected with the house. It is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. Behind the orangery is a

mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of 19 species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 subordinat ...

tree said to be the oldest of its species (''Morus nigra'') in the country, and has been afforded Great Tree of London status. It is thought to have been planted in 1608 at the order of James I. Giacomo Castelvetro, an Italian writer stayed at Charlton and in 1613 wrote a treatise on fruit and vegetables. Adam Newton died in 1629 and his executors Peter Newton and the Scottish architect

David Cunningham of Auchenharvie David Cunningham of Auchenharvie (died 1659) was a Scottish courtier and landowner. An absentee owner of Auchenharvie Castle, in London he was an administrator of income to Charles I of England, as "Receiver of the rents the king had as Prince Cha ...

rebuilt nearby St Luke's Church. Anne, Lady Halkett was married in 1656 at Charlton House, the service was conducted in her brother-in-law Sir Henry Newton's closet by Mr Robert Gale, the chaplain of Christian Cavendish, Countess of Devonshire.John Gough Nichols, ''Autobiography of the Lady Halkett'' (London, 1875), pp. xx, 102–103. In 1658 the estate was purchased by Sir William Ducie; on his death, in 1680, it was bought by Sir William Langhorne. It passed to his nephew, Sir John Conyers, in 1715, and remained in the family (being inherited by Jane (née Weller), the wife of Sir Thomas Spencer Wilson, in 1777). Under their grandson Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson a wing was added to the house by

Norman Shaw Richard Norman Shaw RA (7 May 1831 – 17 November 1912), also known as Norman Shaw, was a British architect who worked from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings. He is considered to be among the g ...

, in 1877. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Charlton House was the divisional headquarters of the

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

for Greenwich and Woolwich. At the end of the war London's hospitals couldn't cope with the numbers of wounded, so Sir Spencer and Lady Maryon-Wilson made the entire house available to the Red Cross to serve as an auxiliary hospital; it operated from 14 October 1918 to 30 April 1919, with around 70 beds. In 1925 Sir Spencer sold the house and grounds to the

Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich The Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich was a metropolitan borough in the County of London between 1900 and 1965. It bordered the boroughs of Woolwich, Lewisham and Deptford and, across the River Thames, the borough of Poplar and the County Bo ...

. The Chapel Wing was bombed during the Blitz and was subsequently rebuilt albeit with non-matching bricks such as were available in the immediate post-war period. Formerly housing a museum and library, the house is now a community centre, and much of the former pleasure grounds now forms Charlton Park, although remnants of the house gardens survive as does a short section of

Ha-Ha A ha-ha ( or ), also known as a sunk fence, blind fence, ditch and fence, deer wall, or foss, is a recessed landscape design element that creates a vertical barrier (particularly on one side) while preserving an uninterrupted view of the lan ...

. The walled gardens and some of the perennial borders were redesigned and re-planted by the landscape designer Andrew Fisher Tomlin in 2003–2004 for the then London, now Royal Borough of Greenwich with perennial meadow planting to the main walled kitchen garden retaining three ancient ''

Prunus ''Prunus'' is a genus of flowering plant, flowering trees and shrubs from the family (biology), family Rosaceae. The genus includes plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots and almonds (collectively Drupe, stonefruit). The genus has a cosm ...

app.'' trees. One of the spaces includes an

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

Peace Garden with planting also designed by Fisher Tomlin. The house is looked after by Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust. The principal rooms are open to the public most days, when not hired for private use. A varied programme of events and activities is also offered.

Film location

In 1996 the house was the main location for the feature film ''

Monarch A monarch () is a head of stateWebster's II New College Dictionary. "Monarch". Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest ...

'', released in 2000, produced and directed by local film maker John Walsh.

References

{{Commons category

External links

Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust
Charlton, London Grade I listed buildings in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Grade I listed houses in London Houses in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Houses completed in 1612 1612 establishments in England Buildings and structures in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Country houses in London Health in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Hospitals established in 1918 Defunct hospitals in London Hospitals disestablished in 1919