Sacred London

Croydon Minster

Six Archbishops of Canterbury lie in Croydon's parish church, rebuilt by Gilbert Scott after the fire of 1867 around its medieval tower.

ChurchesMedievalMusic & choirs

There was a minster here in Saxon times, a base for a company of priests serving the country round, and the archbishops of Canterbury kept a palace next door from the twelfth century, which is why six of them chose to be buried in the parish church: Grindal, Whitgift, Sheldon, Wake, Potter and Herring, Whitgift under the tomb he built for himself and Sheldon under a monument by the sculptors of his day. The medieval church, a big Perpendicular building of the 1400s, was gutted on the night of 5 January 1867 by a fire from its new stoves, and George Gilbert Scott, who had restored it ten years before, rebuilt it on the old plan between 1867 and 1869, keeping the west tower and the south porch and pushing the east end further out. It became a minster again in 2011, and its choir keeps the cathedral tradition. Whitgift's almshouses stand a few streets away in the town he endowed.

Where

Church Street, Croydon, CR0 1RN

Nearest station

West Croydon · 9 min walk

Hours

Hours from the page that lists them, checked 8 September 2026.

On Thursdays it closes after Morning Prayer, and the office asks anyone travelling any distance to ring first.

NearbySacred London

• Buddhapadipa Temple2 hr 8 min walk
• St Alfege Church2 hr 51 min walk
• Westminster Cathedral2 hr 56 min walk

NearbyOther Categories

• Museum of CroydonMuseums6 min walk
• Émile ZolaThe World in London1 hr 2 min walk
• Ira AldridgeThe World in London1 hr 6 min walk

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