Ann Kenrick pointing to the final resting place of founder Thomas Sutton

THE first female chief executive of The Charterhouse – who opened up the buildings to the public for the first time in its 650-year history – is stepping down after five years at the helm.

Ann Kenrick OBE said it was “a difficult decision” to resign after five “stimulating” years, but that it was time for a “pause” while she moves on to new projects.

Ms Kenrick, who will leave at the end of March, said she had been determined to bring in the local community after arriving at the ancient institution in Smithfield.

Since opening up the building to the public, it now runs family and history tours as well as raising funds through venue hire and renting out the building and Charterhouse Square for film and TV shoots.

It also runs a schools partnership, where children get to “put their hands against history,” she said.
Originally built as a Carthusian monastery in 1371, The Charterhouse was established in 1611 as a boys’ school and a place for older people in need of housing, after the country’s richest commoner Thomas Sutton bought the building.

In his will he provided for 80 residents, known as “the Brothers”.

Ms Kenrick said: “I want us to be a jewel in Islington’s crown. I want children in the area to know that it exists and it belongs to them. Children can put their hands against the walls and feel the history – it’s a living, breathing community as well as an historic site, unique in London.”

Describing how The Charterhouse had been closed to the public since its inception and that people had always just seen it as a bit of a “scary” walled-up building with closed doors at every turn, Ms Kenrick said she wanted as many people as possible to come through the gates.

“For centuries this place was closed to the public and this square was a wall – they’d walk past it and not know what it was,” she said.

“The charity existed perfectly happily shut away from the world but the problem was financially it wasn’t working. It’s poignant that it’s our 650th anniversary this year because when it was set up as a Carthusian monastery, it was for the monks to pray for the souls of the dead who died of the plague – there are echoes of that today because of the people we’ve lost to Covid.”

At one point, around 2010, governors even considered selling off the building and relocating the brothers to outside London.

Ms Kenrick admitted it hasn’t always been easy to balance the books running a Grade I-listed building that costs £2,000 a day to maintain.

She also said she is proud of introducing female “brothers” to the ancient almshouse, as well as making the board of governors a 50/50 split of female and male.

The Charterhouse plans to host a series of events to tie in with its 650th anniversary, along with a fundraising drive to repair damage caused by rainwater to some of its oldest parts.

Peter Aiers, from the Churches Conservation Trust, will take over the role of Master and chief executive in April.