[1] The Manor of Croydon was connected with the Archbishop of Canterbury from at least the late Saxon period,[2] and records of buildings date back to before 960.

[9] The 15th-century Great Hall is thought to have been installed by Archbishop Stafford (d. 1452), with a late-14th-century two-storey porch and a vaulted ceiling to the lower chamber.

The Great Hall was partially remodelled in the 17th century by archbishops Laud and Juxon, who also rebuilt the chapel.

West of the hall are the state apartments including the first-floor Guard Room, now the school library.

Sir Francis Bacon found it "an obscure and darke place" surrounded by its dense woodland.

Croydon Palace was bought at auction with the adjacent meadows to the south and east by the brandy merchant Abraham Pitches for £2,520 on 10 October 1780,[16] which he subsequently let for calico printing and bleaching.

[20] By 1805 the Croydon, Merstham and Godstone Railway cut through the palace grounds, creating today's Church Road.

[21] Bankruptcy saw the palace sold in lots on 20 March 1832,[22][23] with the subsequent demolition of the quadrangle's east side.

[24] Bleaching continued at the palace until it was sold by private agreement to Henry Pelham-Clinton, the 7th Duke of Newcastle at the beginning of June 1887.