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The Worshipful Company of Carpenters is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The Carpenters were traditionally different from a fellow wood-crafting company, the Joiners' and Ceilers' Company, in that the Carpenters utilised nails while the Joiners used adhesives to attach wood.
The organisation existed in 1271; it received a Royal Charter of incorporation in 1477. As is the case with most of the other Livery Companies, the Company no longer has a role as a trade association of tradesmen and craftsmen. Instead, it acts as a charitable institution and supports education in wood-related fields.
In 1767 the Company purchased an estate at Stratford. In 1886 it opened an evening institute there, offering classes in carpentry, joinery, plumbing, geometry, mechanical drawing and cookery. In 1891, the Carpenter's Institute had become a day school for boys. The school closed in 1905 when the local authority opened its own school.
The Company ranks twenty-sixth in the order of precedence of Livery Companies. The Company's motto is Honour God. Its guild church is All Hallows-on-the-Wall, where the Company has held its annual elections for over 600 years.
Founded in 1724, the Carpenters' Company of the City and County of Philadelphia was modeled after the Worshipful Company of Carpenters.