Croydon Minster

Croydon Minster stands in the Old Town area of Croydon, a London borough with more than thirty-five churches. It is the parish and civic church of the borough and holds Grade I listed status. The building’s history reaches back to the middle Saxon period, when it served as a minster church. A charter from King Coenwulf of Mercia mentions a council held near the monasterium of Croydon. The church appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 and was dedicated to St John the Baptist by the mid-14th century. Six Archbishops of Canterbury are buried within the Minster, including Edmund Grindal who died in 1583 and John Whitgift who died in 1604. The medieval church was rebuilt in the late 14th and early 15th centuries in the Perpendicular style. In 1867 a fire destroyed much of the building, though the west tower and south porch survived. George Gilbert Scott led the rebuilding between 1867 and 1869, enlarging the footprint and incorporating medieval remains. Visitors find a large four-manual pipe organ built by William Hill & Sons in 1869. The tower contains a ring of twelve bells cast by Gillett & Johnston in 1936. To the south lies St John’s Memorial Garden, a two-acre space once a cemetery, now landscaped with relocated gravestones and a War Memorial. The Minster serves as chapel to Whitgift School and is linked to The Minster Schools. Its inclusive liberal catholic tradition continues today under the care of the Bishop of Croydon.