Helios at the Charterhouse, Coventry.

 

Recently D and I went to Coventry to see Helios at The Charterhouse.  Helios is a piece of artwork by Luke Jerram. I must admit that I was horrified when we arrived as the car park was overflowing into a nearby field and the Charterhouse plus garden and grounds were teeming with people. Because I wanted to see Helios so much I had ignored my golden rule - don't visit NT or EH places particularly in Warwickshire in the school summer holidays. I should have learnt my lesson from how busy Croft Castle was recently although the Charterhouse had even more people!

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The Charterhouse was a Carthusian Priory of St Anne founded in 1381 with the foundation stone being placed by King Richard II in 1388.  The monks came from  Chartreuse in France and thus gave the name Charterhouse to their monasteries in England.  They were a silent order and the monks lived alone in their cells only speaking on special occasions.  Twelve cells were located around a cloister in what is now the walled garden.  The priory was dissolved in 1539 during Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries. 

The stone building contained the monks refectory and the prior's lodging.  The timber framed end of the building was added in the C16th after the building became a private home. The conservatory which I assume is a more modern addition serves as the ticket office area.

Helios is located in the walled garden and here is our first view of it.

Helios is named after the sun god of Greek mythology and the sculpture is 7 metres wide and has light, high resolution solar imagery and sounds recorded by NASA are emitted.  One metre of the sculpture represents 2000km of the real sun's surface.

In 2017 we went to see the Museum of the Moon by the same artist which was located in Birmingham City Centre.  In many ways I think I preferred the Moon sculpture.

We wandered around the walled garden first.

This building is called the Apple Store which was built as a C19th folly.

We returned to the tea room and D managed to find a table although the queues for food were still long.

After lunch and visiting the book store we were hoping to go into the building itself but sadly that wasn't possible as apparently you needed a timed ticket which I hadn't realised!  I was a bit annoyed with myself as one of the treasures inside is the lower part of a wall painting that would have been in the refectory. It was put there ~1417 soon after the building was finished and depicts the Crucifixion of Christ.

We had a brief wander around the orchard before leaving.

The Charterhouse is Grade I listed.  After the Dissolution it became a family home and then a garden to produce exotic fruit.  One notable past resident was Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and favourite of Queen Elizabeth I.

The Charterhouse is owned by by the Historic Coventry Trust which was set up in 2011 to restore historical places in Coventry.  They raised the £11.9 million needed to restore the  Charterhouse.

The National Trust and the Historic Coventry Trust are now in a partnership and the former now cares for the house. It is their first property in Coventry.

The River Sherbourne

The lost medieval village of Bisseley (later called Shortley) was located near the C12th Bisseley Corn mill near the Charterhouse.  The mill was later called the Charterhouse Mill and was demolished in the 1930's.  It is possible that part of the village lies under the Charterhouse and its grounds.

The medieval St Anne's chapel was also located nearby. 

Some of D's photos from the visit

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Photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ bridge camera and those marked *D were taken by my son with the Canon SX50HS bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks)

Reference:

National Trust website on The Charterhouse

Various information boards around the site

Another Visit to Herefordshire - Part 5: St Michael and All Angels, Croft

 

St Michael and All Angels at Croft predates the present castle. The first church was built in the C12th and the present church dates back to the C14th and the church was enlarged in the C15th.

The bell turret with the ogee shaped cupola was added in the C17th.

The plain octagonal font, according to Pevsner, is probably C14th.

The tiles date back to the C15th/early C16th and are from Malvern and Monmouth with one dated 1486.  They are mostly heraldic.

The Chancel

Looking down the nave from the chancel

East Window by Hardman 1916

This stunning monument is to the memory of Sir Richard Croft, Sheriff of Herefordshire, MP for Herefordshire in 1471 and the Governor of Ludlow Castle He was created a knight after the Battle of Stoke in 1487 and died on 29th July 1509.  The tomb is also for his wife Eleanor who died 1520.  She was the daughter of Sir Edmund Cornewall of Burford, Salop, and widow of Sir Hugh Mortimer of Kyre.

The tomb chest has standing angels holding shields beneath crocketed canopies.  According to Pevsner the tomb was inexpertently reconstructed when it was moved from the former north chapel.

The recumbent effigies have a lion at the feet of Sir Richard and a lion cub and puppy at the feet of Eleanor's effigy.  

It is a pity I am not taller or I could have taken better images of the effigies!

Against the rear wall there are saints in two tiers. The lower tier has St Anthony and St Roche and the upper tier shows St Sitha and St Margaret.

The Mortimer Connection

The Croft family were friends and allies of the Mortimers of Wigmore (Marcher lords).  A traditional story suggests that a member of the Croft family with the Mortimers helped with the escape of Lord Edward from Hereford Cathedral in 1265.

Sir Richard Croft (see tomb in photos above) was a important supporter of Richard, Duke of York and joined his son Edward at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross where they defeated the Lancastrians led by Owen Tudor.  

(A bit of background to this - when Edmund IV Mortimer died in 1425 without a son his Mortimer inheritance passed to his sister Anne's son who was Richard Duke of York.  His son Edward, the future King Edward IV was proclaimed King and crowned after the battle of Towton.  Sir Richard Croft was a close friend of Edward after he became king and his wife Eleanor was governess to the King's son.)

Photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks).

Reference:

"Buildings of England Herefordshire" by Alan Brooks and Nikolaus Pevsner, The  University Press, 2017