Old Palace Croydon: east range of the south court

Summary

The east range of the south court connects the great hall with the guard chamber, which encloses the north side of this court at the Old Palace site. This dates principally from the 1490s, built as part of Archbishop Morton’s work at Croydon, with later additions, mostly after 1660. Restoration was undertaken by the school from the late 1940s with the attic-level offices remodelled in 1987.

Reasons for Designation

The east range of the south 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 the high-status apartments 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 and embellish the range from the 1660s;
* 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 into the 1490s.

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 EAST RANGE OF THE SOUTH COURT
The east range to the south court was built under Archbishop Morton in the 1490s, constructed against the west wall of the great hall and the east end of the guard chamber. It incorporated at its northern end part of an earlier link range between these principal spaces, forming a key part of the historic linear arrangement of the palace. The range was built to provide a high-status apartment separate from the two beyond the guard chamber also built under Morton at this stage. This work was principally undertaken to accommodate visits by Henry VII, with this range forming one element of extensive new building activity at this time, which extended to parts of the west range to the south court, the entirety of the west range connecting to the chapel, together with extensions and alterations to the chapel. Beyond this, the building of new lodging ranges to the north of the site (which were entirely demolished in the early C19) were also built under Morton. This extensive development transformed the Old Palace into a recognisably early modern great house, with three high-status apartments suitable for accommodating royal visits and providing lodgings for their retinue. John Morton was personally favoured by Henry VII, appointed Chancellor of England following his victory at Bosworth in 1485, and in the following year translated by the pope, at the king's request, to the see of Canterbury. In 1493, a royal licence was granted for building campaigns across the archiepiscopal manors in Kent, Surrey and Sussex. It is probable that his works at Croydon were essentially complete by the time he entertained Henry VII in October 1498 and again in July 1500, before his death in September of that year, indicating that the work belongs to around 1493-1498.

The range was intended to formalise and improve the link between hall and great chamber, whilst providing additional high-status accommodation. Where not utilising existing structures of the adjacent ranges, the surviving primary walls are typical of work of the 1490s under Morton. The arrangement as it existed requires some interpretation. At ground-floor level, the entrance bay is defined to the south by a brick wall, and the layout of the adjacent moulded ceiling confirms that it is original. The primary layout of the rooms to the south is unknown and the construction of the floor above it is of uncertain date. There is a much altered, but substantial, chimney south of the centre on the west side, and its projection continues southwards to terminate in the southern projecting bay, which represents a former stack of garderobe closets, as the surviving ventilation slots in the upper room indicate. Between the stack and the southern projection there is a primary external door in what may have been an early back stair bay to the garden. The apartment would have been to the first floor. It is possible that this connected directly with the western guard hall, since the central part of the west wall of this block is a later-C17 rebuild, but evidence is sparce, so this remains speculative.

Major investment under Archbishop Juxon followed the recovery of the palace in 1660 after its seizure during the Commonwealth. This work can be seen internally in this range, where substantial remains of panelling survive and connections with the hall can be seen, as exemplified in the central room to the first floor built on the axis of the great hall, which it would have overlooked at this stage; three mullion and transom windows were inserted here (their distinctive segmental arches visible through the plaster from the hall). The fireplace and external window in this room were in the opposite west wall, showing that progression was through aligned doors placed at opposite ends of the south wall. At ground-floor level, the shared wall with the great hall had a (now blocked) doorway opening inserted to give access from the dais to the southern portion of the range and a partition wall was added to the north of this, reflecting the divide above as it existed by this stage. The stair from the dais end of the hall connecting to the guard chamber was also refashioned and its newels and balustrades survive from this period. The wall between the stairwell and the eastern spaces to the first floor marks the line of a landing, which probably formerly occupied the whole space. Externally, the central part of the west wall was rebuilt, probably in recycled rubble and new brick (now plastered externally beneath the late parapet) and a wide door or window opening with splayed reveals (opening into the courtyard from the central room) appears to have been added.

Following the sale of the site for industrial use into the 1780s, which saw the hall and small southern courtyard used for calico printing and bleaching, the site went through a series of owners. By 1798 it was owned by Samuel Starey, but following his death in 1809 the eastern range between the hall and the guard chamber was offered by his widow Elizabeth as accommodation for judges at the Croydon Assizes. The 1880s plans indicate that areas of this range remained principally in domestic use by this stage, suggesting this remained the case through until the school acquired the site. The first floor of the range was sub-divided to create bedrooms and stairs were inserted to reach them in the early C19. A new polite entrance with an open porch was created, added as part of the same phase as the adjacent French doors. Typical details of this phase include reeded architraves, which are consistent with a date around 1810. Soon after this time it appears that the garret was formed in the roof above southern end of the range and the curved stair up to it was presumably contemporary. In the south courtyard, a polygonal service corridor connected the spaces at the east end, and numerous WCs were tucked into corners; all are shown on the 1880s drawings.

Into the C20, under the school, Hilton records that several ceilings within the range required replacement after collapse between 1949 and 1950 and that in 1987 the central room on the first floor and the roof space was remodelled with a new stair to create offices (Hilton, K 1989, p63; pp78-9). The reception room to the south of the ground-floor and the opened-out northern room were refurbished late in the C20.

Details

The east range of the south court connects the great hall with the guard chamber, which encloses the north side of this court. This dates principally from the 1490s, built as part of Archbishop Morton’s work at Croydon, with later additions, mostly after 1660. Restoration was undertaken by the school from the late 1940s with the attic-level offices remodelled in 1987.

MATERIALS: red-brown brick, mostly in English bond, with recycled rubble and brick used in later-C17 work.

PLAN: the lobby and stairwell between the hall and private apartments leads to a series of C15-C16 first-floor chambers with attic accommodation reached via a later-C20 western stair. At ground-floor level a pointed arched stone doorway adjoining the south range indicates earlier antecedents for this or the adjoining wing.

EXTERIOR: the north elevation is a single bay linking the hall to the private apartments, breaking forward from the north elevation of the hall. The ground floor is rendered above a brick base with a moulded stone coping, similar to the hall. A C20 doorcase with a part-glazed door with small fixed upper lights breaks through the plinth. At first floor, lighting the stair, is an eight-over-eight pane sash beneath an eared hoodmould. The upper floor is of brown brick repaired in red brick that extends to the parapet which continues from the hall. A two-light window beneath a flush lintel with diamond leaded quarries lights the upper stairwell.

The south elevation, adjacent to the long gallery, is in two asymmetrical sections, the narrower, western section breaking forward beneath a taller gabletted roof, accommodating the entrance at ground level and a small closet at first-floor level. This section has a doorcase with a glazed fanlight, reeded pilasters and a door of six raised and fielded panels and a single six-over-six pane sash above.

Other ground floor openings on the external elevations have been inserted and altered but here and at first-floor level are restored six-over-six pane sashes, on the west in flush frames, lighting the chambers on three elevations. On the west elevation the upper floor is tile-hung with a pair of eight-over-eight pane horned sashes beneath tile-hung gablets. Infilling the junction with the south range is a corner block containing WCs with a canted arrangement to the entrance doors, forming part of a block which breaks forward of the rest of the wall. The range was added in the C19 under industrial use (shown in the 1880 survey) and the exposed brickwork reflects this date. The lower section of the roof is hipped to the corner and the structure at first-floor level is clad in hung tiles with a gable end to the west.

INTERIOR: the main entrance from the north gives access to the hall and private apartments. It has a broad, open well, closed string stair in a C17 manner with a deep moulded string, square newels with sunk panels, surmounted by ball finals, columnar balusters and a broad moulded rail. The stair continues to the floor above, giving access to the east range of the north court and chapel at half-landing level and at full-storey height to the apartments in the eastern range of the south court. The ceiling above the entrance hall, and one clearly designed to impress, has a richly moulded cornice and closely-spaced, deep moulded joists.

On the principal, first floor, the eastern range of the south court houses a suite of chambers of the 1490s, refitted in the later C17 and restored in the C20. The southern room has a panelled dado, a chimneypiece with enriched Ionic pilasters and cornice, with a panelled overmantel. Windows, including the closet, are refurbished six-over-six pane sashes with heavy glazing bars and with panelled shutters and linings. The ceiling has narrow moulded transverse beams and joists; the northern third of the room has been altered with no joists or beams visible.

The central first-floor room retains much of its later-C17 panelling and joinery, save for part of the lost north wall and the stripped-back south wall, The panels tend towards square, with bolection moulds, and a pulvinated frieze and cornice above. The ceiling is and was intended to be plain plaster, although a late medieval ceiling may survive beneath. On the eastern side of the range at first-floor level are three internal but blocked mullion and transom windows, formerly overlooking the great hall. Above the stairwell the roof has coupled rafters, a section numbered with carpenters’ marks, with collars, some reused.

At ground-floor level the undivided southern room has been significantly modernised and has functioned as a reception for the school. In the west wall, at the southern end of the range is a pointed arched stone doorway with a chamfered architrave which is from the 1490s, marking what was presumably an entrance to the stairs from the southern gardens. A further opening into the northern bay from the east range of the north court has ashlared reveals and is medieval.

The connecting canted block to the courtyard junction with the south range was added in the C19 and consists of a series of WCs with a western lobby area and southern corridor to the south range, all of which is modern. At first floor level this structure houses a passage connecting to the south range, stairs down to the ground-floor western lobby and a small office to the corner.

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
Wood, M, The English Medieval House (1965),
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

End of official list entry