Old Palace Croydon: Chapel

Summary

Private archbishops’ chapel forming part of the archiepiscopal palace complex at Croydon, built in phases between the late-14th century and the 17th century, with restoration under Sir Banister Fletcher after 1905 as part of the school.

Reasons for Designation

The chapel of the Old Palace at Croydon is listed at Grade I for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a significant archiepiscopal chapel with C14 origins, reconstructed after partial collapse in the mid-C15, enlarged in the 1490s and enriched with a C17 raised pew and stalls under Archbishops Laud and Juxon, then restored after 1905 under Sir Banister Fletcher;
* for the quality and richness of its materials and craftmanship, including early and inventive use of brick in the mid-C15 rebuilding and also joinery and carved work of exceptional quality in the roof structure, raised pew and chapel stalls;
* as an instructive element of the architectural evolution of the palace around two courts, demonstrating through distinct phases of development the enlargement and aggrandisement of the Old Palace from the C14 through to the later C18.

Historic interest:

* as a key part of an important and extensive archiepiscopal manor with standing elements dating back to the C12. The Old Palace is the best-surviving example of a medieval palace of the Archbishops of Canterbury, built on the route between Lambeth and Canterbury to serve as a residence suitable for the archbishop’s retinue and frequent royal visitations;
* for its strong association with successive Archbishops of Canterbury, to whom distinct campaigns of building work are attributed.

Group value:

* with the other seven Grade I-listed buildings forming the Old Palace complex and the adjacent Grade I-listed Croydon Minster (Church of St John the Baptist).

History

The Old Palace at Croydon formed one of a chain of great houses to be occupied by archbishops and their retinues when travelling between Canterbury and Lambeth. The archiepiscopal manors were established to allow the journey to be divided into easy stages of around 20 miles, with the route proceeding via Charing, Maidstone, Otford, and (after 1450) Knole. The Old Palace at Croydon was the final staging post on this route towards London and it became one of the largest and most important sites of the archiepiscopal estate. The palace site is likely to date back to the 8th century or early 9th century, with a ‘monasterium’ recorded from 809, at which time a Royal Council was assembled at Croydon. By 880, the site certainly constituted part of the endowment of the Archbishop of Canterbury, becoming an important part of the estate in the late-Saxon period. The palace came to be favoured by archbishops as a summer residence from the C13, by which time it had an early hall, private chambers, kitchens and surrounding grounds. With the adjacent church and village, the area became known as Old Croydon, distinct from New Croydon, which developed to the east as a commercial centre along a main route to London, receiving a market charter in 1276.

The Old Palace at Croydon is an extraordinarily complex site of multiple phases; indeed, almost every generation since the C12 has adapted the palace buildings to some degree to meet their evolving demands. A series of timber buildings centred on a hall built from the 9th century onwards appear to have preceded the stone and brick structures. The evidence indicates that rebuilding in masonry began with the private chambers during the C12, towards the western edge of the palace site, with subsequent development suggesting that that the principal early buildings - the private chamber, hall and kitchens - were strung together from west to east. The later C14 saw a surge in building at the archbishops’ estates, recorded in some cases as repairing damage following social and political unrest across the country culminating in the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381, when Archbishop Sudbury was seized and beheaded in London and the archepiscopal property was attacked. There is no specific record of an attack on the Old Palace at Croydon, though the heightened building activity from this time may have been spurred by these events.

The main standing elements of the Old Palace were built from the mid-C14 to the late C15, by which time the manor was highly regarded, acquiring high-status accommodation suitable for royal visitations. The scheme appears to have begun with an early iteration of the great chamber above its undercroft in the second quarter of the C14 for Archbishop Stratford (1333-1348), and with the hall, probably begun under Archbishop Courtenay (1381-1396) and completed by Archbishop Stafford (1443-1452), whose throne partially survives. The later C14 and early C15 saw a major phase of building by Archbishop Arundel (1396-1397 and then 1399-1414), who completed the great chamber in its present form, probably extending accommodation to the south-west, possibly the site of an earlier private chapel or oratory. The lower section of what was likely at that date to be a chapel (since the existing chapel was built above it) also dates from the later C14. The upper part was then rebuilt in the mid-C15 following its partial collapse. In around 1500, Archbishop Morton (1486-1500) extended the chapel and private chambers westwards, with a west range built to link them. The east range closing the south court appears to have been built at around the same time.

Despite the closure of many religious houses under Henry VIII, the Old Palace at Croydon was retained while other archiepiscopal estates were sold or reduced, and perhaps in response to this loss Archbishop Cranmer added a long gallery, built in 1538-1539, to complete the plan that fundamentally exists today, with enclosed north and south courts. The manor was first described as a ‘palatium’, or palace, by John Whitgift (1583-1604) in the later C16, although after the Reformation its popularity waned. Henry VIII reputedly refused to stay at Croydon claiming it to be bad for his health on account of its low-lying position and waterlogged condition at this stage. Both church and palace were built on an island site and until the early C19 the palace site was surrounded by water, with fishponds, ornamental ponds and waterways.

In the C17, Archbishop Laud (1633-1645) committed to remodelling the archiepiscopal chapels in line with his religious tenets, and at the Old Palace the raised pew, stalls and altar rails are attributed to him. During the Commonwealth (1649-1660), Parliament seized the site and sold it to Sir William Brereton. However, the Old Palace was reinstated as archiepiscopal property in 1660, perhaps a reflection of its importance, and remained so until the later C18. On the restoration of the monarchy, Archbishop Juxon (1660-1663) set about restoring the buildings, particularly the chapel which was significantly reconfigured during this time and likely continued by his immediate successor, Archbishop Sheldon (1663-1677).

Although some improvements were made by Archbishop Wake (1715-1737), who spent frequent summers at the Palace, and by Archbishop Herring (1747-1757), who spent £6000 on the buildings and gardens, by the later C18 the Old Palace was less popular as a residence and had fallen into a poor state of repair. In 1780 it was sold to Abraham Pitches and then subsequently to Sam Starey, becoming a calico printing and bleaching factory. The site was industrialised, land was sold, buildings were adapted, subdivided and used for multiple purposes, including as lodgings. The wider complex of the palace was significantly truncated and all of the northern ancillary buildings of the outer court were lost during this period. The northern stables and the gatehouse were largely demolished in 1806, followed by the western lodgings in 1808 as part of the expansion of the churchyard (marked by the present brick boundary wall from this date). The service range which had been connected to the hall was pulled down in 1810, which ultimately contributed to the collapse of the east wall of the Great Hall in 1830. The final remaining vestige of the outer court was the eastern range of lodgings running along what is now Old Palace Road, which remained in use for most of this period but was finally demolished in 1880.

In order to save the Old Palace from demolition in 1887, the site was bought by the Duke of Newcastle, a follower of the Oxford Movement, who gave it to the Anglican Sisters of Mercy to secure its future for religious purposes. The Sisters established a small school in 1889 that was recognised as a higher-grade elementary school in 1892 and in 1904 as a secondary school. From the outset, the Sisters embarked on a programme to restore the neglected buildings, employing the architect Sir Banister Fletcher in 1905 to work on the chapel restoration. After the Second World War it became a Direct Grant Grammar School and new school buildings were added in phases to the south-west of the site. In 1974 it became an independent school, passing in 1994 to the Whitgift Foundation. In September 2023, the Whitgift Foundation announced the decision to close the school permanently by August 2025.

HISTORY OF THE CHAPEL
The first chapel structure appears to have been built late in the C14. This was of masonry construction and from the available remaining structure appears to have consisted of a four-bay chapel set above a groin-vaulted undercroft with single-light windows, probably connected to the private apartments to the south by predecessors to the present link ranges. The earliest surviving elements from this initial phase in the present undercroft are consistent with the major campaign of building at the Old Palace from the 1380s, meaning that it is probable that it was in this new chapel that Archbishop Courtenay presided over a special ordination on 28 May 1390 (Ducarel, 1783, p56). The internal north-east corner and south-west quoins confirm the footprint had been established by this stage, with the remnants of three single-light windows to the north wall conforming with the later bay divisions of the chapel superstructure. The undercroft walls were constructed in this phase with thick masonry and were clearly higher than now seen, as indicated by the height of the windows in the walls (which are now cut across in the present, lower-set undercroft). The remaining fragments of the north windows suggest a construction phase no later than the end of the C14, reinforcing the ascribed date and probable attribution to Courtenay.

Within a few decades of the construction of the chapel catastrophe struck, with the side walls pushed outwards to cause a complete collapse of the east end. It appears from the degree of rotation to the surviving sections of the north and south walls that there was a failure to constrain a shallow barrel vault at undercroft level, rather than a collapse at roof level (Drury, February 2020, p14), which provides evidence for a late-C14 predecessor to the rebuilt undercroft. The collapse led to the rebuilding of the undercroft and upper part of the chapel into the mid-C15. This retained sections of the long north and south walls, though these were reduced to less than a third of their original thickness from the mid-height of the windows at undercroft level, serving as the base for a lightweight chapel superstructure. This was comprised of four cross frames with narrow infill panels of red brick (only a single brick deep). This is the first known use of brick at the Old Palace, demonstrating a technique of framing thin brick walling with a timber superstructure; an innovation in England of the 1430s and 1440s, brought over from the Low Countries. Dating evidence for the rebuilding of the chapel is not definite; dendrochronology records that the spine beam of the western bay of the ceiling was felled between around 1419 and 1444, while recycled timber in later work gives a wider bracket of 1432 to 1457. The form and construction of this work is distinct from Archbishop Stafford's work on the hall and the early use of brick along with the window form suggests this rebuilding is slightly later, probably belonging to around the late 1450s, conforming with the traditional attribution to Archbishop Bourchier (1454-1486).

Major changes were made under Archbishop Morton (1486-1501), most notably with the extension of the private accommodation through the building of the west range, which added an additional western bay and a northern stair bay to the chapel, connecting to the adjacent churchyard. The brickwork from this phase is distinct from the mid-C15 work, with larger and darker bricks used, laid in English bond in contrast to the irregular form of the long chapel walls. Dendrochronology of floor and roof timbers in this range give a date of 1491-1511, though the attribution to Archbishop Morton in the chapel is evidenced by his rebus on the chapel screen (which is moulded like the ceilings), along with several contemporary bench ends which bear his arms. The additions involved the complete remodelling of the former west end to add an additional bay with a broad window to the west end. Work was required by this time to secure the lightweight superstructure of the long chapel walls which had become distorted, particularly to the north end where there was no connected structure, so the stepped buttresses appear to have been built in this phase to cover the timber wall posts and remedy the structural problems.

Into the mid-C17 further changes were made to the chapel either side of the English Civil War, firstly by Archbishop Laud (1633-1640) and then by Archbishop Juxon (1660-1663) after the restoration of the Palace. During Laud’s tenure, there had been a great commitment to remodelling chapels across the estate in line with his episcopalian, high-church tenets, which emphasised liturgical ceremony and clerical hierarchy. The work to the chapels of the Palaces at Croydon and Lambeth were cited in his trial during the Civil War (Ducarel, 1783, pp38-39), leading to his execution on 10 January 1645. The main work undertaken by Laud at Croydon related to the raised pew (or gallery) and chapel stalls, which bear his arms. He is also recorded to have raised an altar rail and to have installed stained glass and an organ at the west end (Hilton, 1989, p128). The creation of the elevated pew required the blocking of part of the west window and the reconfiguration of the rooms to the south, to meet the floor level of the pew, implying that this was the end point of a hierarchical sequence for the Archbishop’s retinue, leading from the private apartments. A bell dated 1663 appears to have been installed by Laud and a bellcote shown in early drawings (subsequently rebuilt in adapted form in the early C20) indicates this was an addition of the mid-C17.

The palace was seized during the Commonwealth and when it was restored to Juxon in 1660 the chapel appears to have been in a precarious state. A major period of investment was initiated which involved extensive reconstruction in brick to the upper portions of the chapel walls and the chapel’s east end was almost entirely rebuilt (although this is only clear above the window as recycled brick was mostly used beneath). The chapel roof was substantially reconstructed, incorporating several reused rafters dating from the mid-C15 and Juxon’s arms are painted on several earlier tie beams, making clear the composite nature of this work. Juxon’s arms are found on several bench ends, suggesting that the way the chapel is arranged presently derives from this remodelling. This chapel remodelling was, however, far more extensive than can now be seen, with the survey of 1880 recording what was a comprehensive scheme with a Baroque character, including a panelled reredos set beneath the window framed by pilasters, with the window being flanked pairs of giant Corinthian pilasters supporting a full entablature. The entire scheme appears to have been painted to imitate stone, with fragments of this remaining.

The sale of the Palace site brought the chapel, as with much of the rest of the complex, into industrial use as part of Abraham Pitcher’s calico printing and bleaching works in the 1780s. The period wrought relatively little alteration to the chapel’s arrangement, fittings and structure. By 1826 the chapel was used by the Vicar of Croydon. This continued until 1830, after which the chapel served for a time as a school of industry; with a sketch of around 1850 showing it in this use with a small coal stove inserted between the stalls and screen (Thornhill, 1987, figure 16). The only notable remaining alteration from this period was the insertion of the plain staircase up to the elevated pew, which would not have had any direct communication with the chapel prior to this.

The sale of the site in 1887 to the Sisters of Mercy brought about a period of restoration, with the chapel marked out as an early priority. Work was overseen by Sir Banister Fletcher from 1905, who appears to have been responsible for the repair of the flank walls with the insertion of concrete beams and the tying of the thin brick walls to a steel truss frame, plastered over internally but visible in the wall plates externally. The Sisters set to work personally removing the paintwork applied under Juxon, which took them around three years up to 1908 (Hilton, 1989, p121). The Baroque character of Juxon’s work appears to have been interpreted as having ‘Roman Catholic overtones unacceptable to the Anglican sisters’ (Drury, February 2020, p22) and consequently almost all traces of this decorative scheme were removed as part of the Sister’s ‘restoration’, which principally sought to recover the chapel’s Gothic character, as conveyed in Augustus Pugin’s published drawings (Pugin, 1838, plates 171 and 173). Clear glazing was installed along with a C16 font (relocated from the Church of St George in Southwark as a gift to the school) and the chapel was rededicated in 1908. Subsequent work into the 1930s involved the installation of the stained-glass east window (completed 1931) and the altar with its present rails, which replaced those previously relocated from the galley of the guard room. These C17-style rails were believed, ‘almost certainly incorrectly’ (Drury, February 2020, p22), to have been those originally inserted by Archbishop Laud and were removed to the guard chamber after the Commonwealth seizure of the palace. As part of the same work, the screen was ‘restored’, with a new carved frieze added and a canopied pew ‘thought not to be original’ by Juxon was removed (Drury, February 2020, p22). More recent alterations (recorded in Hilton, 1989, pp119-124) include the retiling of the roof in 1967; new lighting in 1968; the bringing forward of the altar (to celebrate the eucharist facing the congregation) in 1973; a new lectern in 1981; and new stained glass with the arms of the Glaziers' Company in 1986.

Details

Private archbishops’ chapel forming part of the archiepiscopal palace complex, principally built in phases between the late C14 and C17, with restoration under Sir Banister Fletcher after 1905 as part of the school.

MATERIALS: red and brown brick of varying date (principally from the mid-C15 to the 1660s), with timber framing and stone quoins and dressings belonging to distinct phases.

PLAN: the chapel is the northernmost range of the extant historic palace complex. It is built over two levels, with the chapel to the upper level reached by stairs in the north-west range and an undercroft beneath. To its south end this is connected to the west range and the east range of the north court. The western bay of the chapel (added as part of the long western range built in the 1490s) is integrated with the chapel and had a raised pew installed under Archbishop Laud which required the opening of the south wall here to create a first-floor passage between the two ranges.

EXTERIOR: the west elevation has a continuous stretch of walling of the 1490s in a deep red-brown brick, mostly in English bond, enriched with diaper work in darker vitrified brick that is especially visible at upper levels and in the gable, where it includes crossed keys (of St Peter). The northern wing housing the chapel stair has an eroded moulded stone doorcase and worn memorial tablets above. The chapel has a blocked window opening at undercroft level that has a depressed arch set in a deep brick reveal, similar to others in the western range. Above this is a two-light west window with shallow arched heads contained within a larger stone surround with a depressed arched head, and a small, blocked light in the gable, which is similarly treated to the east gable. There is a deep tile band returning to the north elevation a little below the west window impost level.

The east elevation was extensively repaired in the 1660s and then in the early C20 in red-brown brick on a shallow moulded stone plinth (with mostly large red brick of this date to the gable and earlier reused brick of lighter colour beneath). A steep brick offset at the northern end narrows to a stack that rises adjacent to the east window. Again, this has tile bands at the base and above returns to the north elevation. It has an inserted eight-over-eight pane sash at ground floor level, a seven-light east chapel window, restored externally in the 1930s. Above this is a shallow, pointed head with a tile drip mould. The roof has plain eaves, with tile kneelers and a brick soldier course to the gable.

The north elevation is a mix of coarse red-brown brick and fine red brick, the earliest use of brick at the palace (probably dating to around the later 1450s under Archbishop Bourchier), of which earlier sections are in irregular and English bonds, with later patching that includes sections of the upper floor in Flemish bond from the 1660s. At upper level, the brickwork provided cladding in relatively lightweight panels. A vertical joint at the western end correlates with the break between the original chapel and added western bay, which is in darker brick.

As elsewhere at the palace, early work, here at lower level, is in flint and stone rubble. Stepped full-height buttresses are in English bond brick of the 1490s with stone copings, these encasing the earlier timber wall posts of around the 1450s which had distorted. At ground-floor level, openings include (from east to west), an inserted six-over-six pane sash beneath a deep tile lintel; a C20 casement in an earlier stone surround with a deep tile lintel and brick pointed arch; a repaired pointed arched single light; and an inserted C20 entrance beneath remnants of an earlier stone arch with a blocked opening next to it. The three chapel windows are rectangular, of five lights with chamfered pointed arches, set directly beneath the oversailing eaves. The eastern bay is blind to both walls and this was probably the original arrangement since there is a long timber brace visible inside, on the north side, from wall post to wall plate, where a window might otherwise be positioned.

The south elevation, forming the north range of the north court, is similarly of flint and stone rubble at lower level, with robust stone quoins at the western end (relating to the earliest C14 phase), and brick above, with one stepped buttress and a rebuilt brick parapet. At lower level there is a door and window, both set in earlier openings, and above this there are two five-light chapel windows (as to the north). The vertical break between the earlier and later fabric is again clearly visible; the western bay (of the 1490s) is wholly in a darker purple-brown brick in English bond and has a contemporary, single-light window in a chamfered brick reveal with a brick relieving arch above.

Above the west end of the chapel is a square-based fleche or bellcote (a C20 replacement of an earlier structure; the first bell cote illustrated in early views was C17 in style, which fits with the original bell being dated 1637). This has canted tile-hung sides and a timber superstructure, set under an ogival roof.

INTERIOR: the chapel is of four original bays defined by depressed cambered tie beams with deep roll mouldings and similarly moulded arched braces. The boarded ceiling of the primary bays are divided into rectangular panels by slender moulded ribs, this part of the 1450s construction, as are the cornices. This is consistent with the primary spine beam, which has a felling date of 1419-1444. The additional western bay, trapezoidal on plan, was added in the 1490s as part of Archbishop Morton’s work. Marking the end of the original western bay, moulded wall posts are exposed above dado height, and rest on the masonry wall below. An arched brace is exposed in the north-eastern bay, suggesting this was always a windowless bay. The tie beams bear the painted arms of Archbishop Juxon (1660-1663), responsible for restoring the chapel after the Commonwealth.

Moulded window architraves and mullions within the chapel partially survive, though have been restored externally. The west window is of four lights of which the outer two are blocked, presumably since the gallery pew was installed, but with the moulded heads and mullions exposed, all set beneath a wide, four-centred arch above a splayed reveal. The upper sections of the inner lights are glazed.

The side walls, excluding the sanctuary, have a restored panelled oak dado comprising two tiers of vertical, chamfered panels paired beneath a horizontal tier above, that also serves as the back of the lateral stalls. The stalls, arranged either side of the screen doors and lining the side walls in three adjacent sets, have panelled fronts with moulded fillets, ornate carved bench ends with figure head stops, and enriched poppy head desk ends (dating to the C15), some in mid-C17 date bearing the crests of Archbishops Laud and Juxon.

The chapel is divided by a timber screen, heavily restored in the 1930s, of which the lower section is boarded in vertical panels between chamfered muntins, beneath an open section with richly moulded mullions with a continuous flowing frieze (above and below) that bears Morton’s rebus, a tun or barrel, suggesting it was installed under his tenure. Set within the central bay is a pair of similarly detailed doors beneath a fixed panel, with probably early C20 door furniture. The screen has a crenelated cornice.

The western raised pew in the form of a gallery was added by Laud and is attributed to his carpenter, Adam Brown. The pew, within Morton’s extension, is reached by simple C19 stairs with square newels and a C20 solid balustrade. It is supported by later bracing. The gallery has a solid balustrade with a central canted section, each section defined by richly moulded tapering pilasters surmounted by urn finials on tall square bases and at the base have Ionic capitals above drop finials. Each section is enriched with a raised moulded panel within which is a plain eared panel, all flanked by low relief strapwork ornament. The underside of the cornice is also enriched with a low relief strapwork trail, while the base of the pew has a dentil course. Above the central canted bay is an enriched crest of Archbishop Laud. The pew has wide oak floorboards set diagonally.

Two internal doorways lead from the chapel to the former private chambers in the west and east ranges. The former has a roll moulded timber doorcase, the latter, with a worn stone cill, has a square-headed moulded timber doorcase with carved spandrel panels. Both are refurbished and have early-C20 doors.

To the south side of the altar is a two-bay stone niche. Altar rails in a C17 manner have a double tier of vase balusters and a flat moulded rail. Matching gates have robust hinges. The altar was installed in 1936. This is in polychrome painted timber with a similar but slightly later reredos, with hinged side panels and a brattished head. Most of the other fittings date from the C20 and the sanctuary was reordered in 1973, bringing forward the altar.

Stained glass within the chapel all dates from the C20, having been installed by the school in a series of phases. The east window made by Clayton and Bell was completed in 1931, this depicts influential female figures within the church, inscribed S Frideswide and S Dorothea to the left and S Agnes and S Hilda to the right, flanking the Virgin and Child and Holy Family. Below are places or events from the Bible with a bearing on the community: Porta Clausa, Hortus Conclusus, Radix Jesse, Turris David. The north and south windows contain fragments of armorial glass and include a depiction of St Augustine of Canterbury in the southern range, installed from 1919, and reinstated after Second World War bomb damage.

The font was a gift to the Sisters from the Church of St George, Southwark. It is heavily weathered and has an octagonal stone base with a probable chevron design on alternate faces supporting an octagonal bowl with a raised square motif on each face. This appears to date to the C16. It was moved to its present position from the other side of the screen at some stage after 1989.

Above the ceiling the chapel has a plain kingpost roof that appears to have been reconstructed in around 1660, incorporating reused rafters (felling dates recorded as 1486-1511), and with later restoration in the early 1900s under Sir Banister Fletcher. The visible section has struts to the principal rafters and trenched side purlins with slender straight braces. At the eastern end of the roof space fabric from the former east window has been recorded as surviving (although this is not easily accessible). The western extension bay of the chapel added in the 1490s under Morton has a soffit matching that of the primary bays to the east, but its ceiling joists are a mixture of recycled timber. It appears that the chapel roof was renewed, since the earliest surviving truss above tie beam level (for a side-purlin roof), fragmentary and set against the east gable, resembles others of this phase and the (reset) rafters are of the same date.

The ground floor or undercroft of the chapel range includes evidence of early fabric: the northern room at the western end has a robust post on a stone pad with a section of wall plate above and sections of similar scantling timber, possibly reused, in the adjacent southern room. The eastern room beneath the chapel has axial and transverse ceiling beams with rough chamfers with a runout stop at the northern end, a plain C18 fireplace surround and next to it an alcove with a moulded arched head. The doorway, in a later partition, has a door of broad vertical planks with long strap hinges on its external face and horizontal boards on the internal face. The entrance through to the small southern room (which forms part of the east range of the north court) has an arched stone doorcase with a door of broad vertical planks and is part of the primary phase. Adjacent to this (to the west) is another C15 chamfered stone doorway with a slightly depressed pointed arched head, for the passage through the range towards the guard chamber undercroft.

The western bay of the chapel at this level forms part of the range built under Morton in the 1490s. This retains exposed framing original to the construction. Two openings cut into the thick masonry eastern wall of the late-C14 undercroft structure, to the north and south ends, were added in the 1660s to integrate these ranges. Integral with the rebuilt west end of the chapel is the covered staircase at the northern end. This has opposed doors at this level providing a through route into the churchyard. The space below this connects to the southern room and would have been lit by a window in the east wall, of which only the relieving arch survives.

Sources

Books and journals
Cherry, B, Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: London 2: South (1983), pp212-214
Some Account of the Town, Church and Archiepiscopal Palace of Croydon in Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, ,Vol. XII, (1783), pp30-67, Appendix 1 (Extracts from the Archiepiscopal Registers at Lambeth), pp1-26
Pugin, A, Examples of Gothic Architecture Volume 1 (1838), pp26-30, Plates 38-42

Websites
'Croydon: Introduction and Croydon Palace', in Malden, HE (ed), A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 4 (1912), accessed 24 March 2025 from https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/surrey/vol4/pp205-217

Other
Lea, R, Observations at the Archbishop’s Palace, Croydon, 1987 to 1996 (English Heritage, 2004)
Drury McPherson Partnership, Croydon Archiepiscopal Palace, The Evolution of the Buildings (July 2020)
Drury McPherson Partnership, Old Palace Croydon, The Chapel, Heritage Impact Assessment (February 2020)
Hilton, K, The Old Palace School, Centenary History 1889-1989 (1989)
The Heritage Advisory, Old Palace School, Croydon, Conservation Management Plan (January 2016)
Arnold, A, Howard R, The Archiepiscopal Palace (The ‘Old Palace’) John Whitgift School, Croydon, London, Tree-Ring Analysis of Timbers (February 2020)
Drawings of The Archepiscopal Palace, Croydon c1880 (Society of Antiquaries, B.P. Surrey, no. 53)
Oswald, A, 'The Old Palace, Croydon, Surrey: A Former Residence of the Archbishops of Canterbury', Country Life, (April 1965), pp806-810, 876-880

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