Barts 900 – Will Palin

Monastic houses and Georgian speculators: a tour of historic Clerkenwell

Architectural historian and Barts Heritage CEO Will Palin took us on a virtual ramble through the streets of historic Clerkenwell, tracing the ancient origins of this unique part of London and following its growth and redevelopment through the Georgian and Victorian periods.

During the medieval period Clerkenwell was dominated by the presence of four great religious houses within or around its boundaries, St Bartholomew’s Priory, The Charterhouse, St John’s Priory and St Mary’s Nunnery. Notwithstanding centuries of change and redevelopment the imprint of these monastic sites can still be discerned on the modern street pattern, just one of the aspects that make an architectural tour of this area so surprising and rewarding.