Ruins whisper tales. That’s the feeling you get standing where Sheen Priory once stood. Sheen Priory a Carthusian monastery founded in 1414. It was part of King Henry V’s ambitious building project. This project centered around Sheen Palace. The palace was later renamed Richmond Palace.
Sheen Priory nestled within the royal manor of Sheen now Richmond in London. Its location was on the south bank of the Thames. It was about nine miles southwest of Westminster Palace. All above-ground structures are gone. Yet the priory’s foundations remain under Richmond Old Deer Park. They lie southwest of Kew Observatory under a golf course fairway.
Henry V established Sheen Priory for forty Carthusian monks. They lived in thirty cells around a large cloister. The priory’s endowments were substantial. They included the church and rectory estate at Winterbourne Stoke in Wiltshire. Its wealth came from suppressed alien priories. These were priories owned by foreign religious houses. These lands were mostly in England. There was considerable protest from the former owners. This was particularly true of St Evroul Abbey in Normandy. They had lost a large source of income. Their appeal to Rome to return their lands was unsuccessful.
A fascinating glimpse into Sheen Priory’s life comes from a 15th-century manuscript. This manuscript details the admission process for novices. The prior asked questions about debts and health. He then formally described the rigorous life. This life included fasting silence and manual labor.
Sheen Priory saw notable figures. King James IV of Scotland’s body lay here after the Battle of Flodden in 1513. Cardinal Pole and other prominent churchmen were educated here. Sheen Priory’s story ends with the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII in 1539. Its buildings and assets were then taken by the Crown.
The site later became the home of Henry Grey Duke of Suffolk. A short lived revival under Queen Mary I brought Carthusians back. But Elizabeth I’s reign ended that. Sheen Priory remains a poignant reminder of a bygone era. A silent testament to faith royalty and the passage of time. It is a place that holds a fascinating chapter in London’s rich history.