Old Palace Croydon: east range of the south court

Old Palace Croydon: East Range of the South Court

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

The building is constructed of red-brown brick, mostly in English bond, with recycled rubble and brick used in later 17th-century work.

The plan consists of a lobby and stairwell between the hall and private apartments, leading to a series of 15th and 16th-century first-floor chambers with attic accommodation reached via a later 20th-century western stair. At ground-floor level, a pointed arched stone doorway adjoining the south range indicates earlier antecedents for this or the adjoining wing.

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 20th-century doorcase with a part-glazed door and 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 breaks 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, with 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, these are 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. This range was added in the 19th century 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.

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 17th-century 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 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 17th century and restored in the 20th century. 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 17th-century 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 19th century 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.