Old Palace Croydon: east range of the north court

Summary

Connecting range of lodgings set between the chapel and the great chamber at the Old Palace, built principally in the 1490s as part of Archbishop Morton’s building campaign and then reconfigured in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Reasons for Designation

The east range of the north court of the Old Palace at Croydon is listed at Grade I for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as an important example of the type of accomodation built in the late C15 as part of the archiepiscopal complex, with survival of elaborate joinery and fittings from this time along with significant later work to adapt the range and formalise the connection with the chapel;
* as a major element of the architectural evolution of the Old Palace and its plan around two courtyards, demonstrating through its distinct phases of development the enlargement and aggrandisement of the complex.

Historic interest:

* as an integral 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 EAST RANGE OF THE NORTH COURT
An eastern link between the chapel and guard chamber probably existed in its present position by the mid-C15, with the arrangement and fenestration of the partially rebuilt chapel under Archbishop Bourchier indicating the presence of such a block by this time. Towards the end of the century, under Archbishop Morton, the east range to the north court was substantially rebuilt, probably as a stack of lodgings connected with the chapel as part of a much wider campaign of work undertaken around 1493-1498. This link block was faced in brick to the east, but was otherwise probably originally timber framed, providing three levels of accommodation on a double-pile plan. The awkwardness of the plan - the walls being not quite being parallel – indicates the building was configured in response to earlier structures. It is possible that the lower rubble masonry section of the west wall is a remnant of an earlier building.

By around 1500, the two upper floors had distinct chambers either side of a spine wall, the north-western room on the second floor gives the strongest indication of their early form, with a moulded ceiling surviving along with an eastern partition with moulded muntins and a contemporary doorway at the north end (later blocked). This may have opened to a staircase from this time, originally positioned in the north-east corner on the evidence of other historic fabric and Grose’s drawing of this range in 1769, which shows a stack of small windows unrelated to the adjacent floor levels. While the second-floor rooms appear as lodgings, the scale of the stone doorway from the main entry to the first floor suggest it provided an important route to the chapel, possibly indicating it was formerly used as a vestry. The queen strut roof form is primary, but this level was not originally occupied. The ground level is utilitarian and seemingly always was a service area, clearly arranged to join the undercroft beneath the guard chamber with the eastern bay of the chapel undercroft; with the kink of the spine wall necessitated to provide a passage between these unaligned openings.

Further work was undertaken in the C17 and early C18. Under Archbishop Juxon, after 1660, the west wall was rebuilt in brick above earlier retained masonry which flanked the stack. The second floor retains casement windows to the west elevation which are characteristic of this phase and contemporary internal changes include the stair introduced against the south wall up to the second floor, along with the spine division of the upper western rooms this served. Further alterations have likely been obscured by later interventions, including work under Archbishop Wake (1715-1737), for whom the first-floor chamber to the east end was remodelled, seemingly formalising this as an antechamber to the chapel. A new stack was introduced to the north wall, carried on inserted bridging beams at ground-floor level, and the room was significantly raised in height, consequently reducing the room above to a roof void and removing a possible earlier staircase here (if this had not already happened). The joinery and windows here are closely associated with those seen in the rebuilt southern gallery and this seems to have formed one part of the widespread - if restrained and sporadic - modernisation of the Palace in the C18.

After 1780, the range seems to have served principally as a domestic use. The 1880 survey plans indicate that this range, along with the southern range and the east range of the south court, were used as lodgings by this time, with other spaces principally in industrial uses. As a school, the range has accommodated the kitchen to the west side of the ground floor and offices above. The most significant recent change has been the creation of additional office accommodation in the roof space, bringing into use the roof void above the heighted first-floor room to the east and introducing a mezzanine at the west end, accessed by stairs added against the north wall.

Details

Connecting range of lodgings set between the chapel and the guard chamber, built principally in the 1490s as part of Morton’s building campaign and then reconfigured in the C17 and C18.

MATERIALS: principally red-brown brick with diaper work in vitrified brick to the east and buff and red brick to the west, with some fragments of flint and rubble stone to the base of the western wall.

PLAN: the skewed plan suggests an early range was later altered and built over in the 1490s and then reconfigured in the C17 and C18. The chamber at first-floor level, which was remodelled and raised in height in the C18, links the hall and private apartments to the chapel via the main stair, with small chambers next to it and above. Additional C21 accommodation has been made in the roof space.

EXTERIOR: the east elevation, expressed as two storeys with an attic, is roughly symmetrical following C18 alterations. This is in red-brown brick with diaper work in vitrified brick. There is a straight joint above the first-floor window to the chapel range. The ground floor has a pair of casements in flush frames with segmental arched heads. Roughly central is a first-floor canted oriel window with a lead base and slate roof. It has a six-over-six pane central sash and eight pane flanking lights. To each side is an arch-headed window beneath a round arch, to the left (south) with a six-light window, to the right with a C20 window with a central panel flanked by narrow margin lights. At attic level there is a pair of hipped dormers.

The west elevation facing the north court is in red and buff brick, over three storeys and the attic, roughly symmetrical either side of a large central external stack. Flanking it at ground-floor level is a C20 door with flanking fixed lights and a small-paned casement window, each beneath a broad segmental arch. At first-floor level is a pair of eight-over-eight pane sashes, that to the left horned, both set beneath segmental arches. To the upper level is a pair of casement windows with cills of different heights, that to the left with plain lights, that to the right with leaded lights. Above is a pair of flat-roofed dormers with two-leaf timber casements.

INTERIOR: at undercroft level the western room (kitchens) has possible sections of wall plate on the outer and inner walls, and in the inner wall a heavily altered timber doorcase with a depressed arched head and sunk spandrels on its outer, eastern face, in a repaired timber architrave. An opening blocked by C20 fixtures and fittings connected the room with the undercroft beneath the guard chamber. To the east side are inserted WCs and a distinct small room only accessed from the chapel undercroft via an arched stone doorcase with a door of broad vertical planks.

To the first floor, the eastern room forms an antechamber to the chapel, remodelled in the C18 under Wake. This has a deep, moulded cornice and mostly C18 full-height panelling. There is a blocked doorway in the south wall and, to the north, a doorway through to the chapel with panelled sides. A simple marble fire surround is set centrally in the north wall, this with an inserted cast-iron grate.

Facing the inner courtyard, the two western rooms (likely to formerly have been a single space) have exposed moulded ceilings with moulded cornices and joists. In the north room the window has panelled linings. The room above, which was presumably altered when the chamber below was heightened, has a moulded cornice and ceiling, a moulded doorcase to the eastern partition wall and panelling set in narrow vertical panels with moulded rails and muntins. At the north end is a blocked door corresponding with the panelling.

The roof has two tiers of purlins and collars with queen struts, some components having a felling date of 1486-1511 indicating it forms part of the primary phase. This space has been remodelled in the 2000s by the school to provide additional office accommodation, bringing into use the roof void above the heighted first-floor room (east side) and introducing a mezzanine at the west end, accessed by stairs built against the north wall.

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
Emery, A, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales 1300-1500, Volume 3: Southern England (2006), pp329-333

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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