Charterhouse, London

The Charterhouse near Smithfield is a complex layered with history, beginning as a Carthusian monastery founded in 1371 on the site of a plague burial ground. After the Reformation it became a grand Tudor mansion, then in 1611 a charitable foundation providing a school and almshouse for the poor. The school later moved out, but the almshouse still shelters residents known as Brothers. Guided tours reveal a chapel, cloisters and a Tudor great hall, while a small museum explains its remarkable transformation.