Victoria Sands

Research Topic

Hidden Lives: A History of Women, the London Charterhouse and the Wider Community

Supervisors: Hannah Skoda, Lucy Wooding and Peter Aiers.

My research focuses on illuminating the hidden lives of medieval and early modern women who were associated with the London Charterhouse between c.1300 and 1800. The Charterhouse has an incredibly interesting history, with the site changing functions and acting at different points as burial ground, monastery, mansion, almshouse and school. What roles did women undertake in this traditionally male institution? How and why did they interact with the Charterhouse? What types of influence did they exhibit? These are the streams of thought I will pursue during this project. Archival historical research using material at the London Metropolitan Archives, the National Archives, on site at the Charterhouse and elsewhere in other London galleries and museums will be central to this study. This study hopes to provide a better understanding of women at the Charterhouse that will not only add to the Charterhouse’s historiography, but that of the wider London community.

Academic profile

• Bachelor of Arts, Archaeology and History, University of Southampton (2019)
• Master of Science, Business and Heritage Management, University of Southampton (2020)
• Master of Studies, History, University of Cambridge (2024)

Awards

• Clarendon Scholarship, University of Oxford (2024)
• Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP-funded Collaborative Doctoral Award, University of Oxford and London Charterhouse (2024)
• Early Career Archaeologist Achievement Award, Council for British Archaeology (2022)