Wall To Rear Of No. 23

Boundary Wall to the Rear of No. 23 Goswell Road, Islington

This boundary wall, dating to the early 17th century, is believed to have been part of Thomas Sutton's hospital and school, built from 1611 onwards. It is constructed from ragstone, limestone, greensand, flint, brick and tile, with some sections later rendered and fitted with modern capping.

The wall runs roughly east-west to the rear of No. 23 Goswell Road. It is predominantly a randomly coursed wall of large stone blocks, with deliberately laid courses of stone at its base showing evidence of brick and tile banding. The wall is 10.5 metres long and 2.55 metres high in its listed section, though a continuation of the same construction extends a further 5.75 metres to the west (discovered more recently and partly buried), bringing the total recorded length to approximately 16.25 metres. A report by the Museum of London Archaeology Service indicates the wall extends beyond the excavation limit, suggesting further remains exist.

The wall incorporates an in-filled former gateway towards its eastern end, approximately 3 metres wide. Equally spaced in-filled putlog holes run through the upper courses, indicating the wall once stood considerably taller, as these holes were used to support timber scaffolding during construction and subsequent maintenance.

Towards the western end on the north elevation is a large patch of render, approximately 5 metres long, covering the stonework.

The variety of materials used—particularly the large stone blocks and mix of stones and tiles—strongly suggests that the wall was built using stone robbed from earlier buildings on the site. These materials almost certainly derive from the medieval Charterhouse monastery, 'the House of the Salutation of the Mother of God', which occupied the site from its foundation in 1371 until its suppression in 1538. After the Dissolution, the site passed to Edward North, and later to the Howard family who used it as an ambassador's residence.

Thomas Sutton, a wealthy merchant, purchased the site in 1611 and built a hospital for pensioners—including former royal servants, sailors, soldiers and merchants—together with a school educating 40 poor boys. Historical evidence from Ogilby and Morgan's 1676 map indicates this wall formed the northern boundary of the hospital and school yards and buildings, functioning as a boundary between the north garden and south courtyard, with a gateway connecting the two areas. The wall was likely constructed soon after Sutton's purchase in 1611.

In the 19th century, houses were built on the site, with those to the south of the wall known as Union Place. To the north, the land remained as school playing fields and garden until the Church of St Thomas, Charterhouse was built in 1839 with attached schools; all were demolished in the early 20th century. The site subsequently became manufacturing land before sustaining considerable bomb damage during the Second World War. The upper courses of the wall were removed at an unknown date, prior to the construction of a car park here from approximately the early 1960s.