Addington Palace is an 18th-century mansion inAddington located within theLondon Borough of Croydon. It was built close to the site of an earlier manor house belonging to the Leigh family. It is particularly known for having been, between 1807 and 1897, the summer residence of theArchbishops of Canterbury. Since the 1930s most of the grounds have been occupied by Addington Palace Golf Club. Between 1953 and 1996 the mansion was occupied by theRoyal School of Church Music, which has since moved toSalisbury. It was later used as a wedding and events venue.
The original manor house calledAddington Place was built about the 16th century.
An ancient recipe for Malepigernout (ordillegrout), a spiced chicken porridge, was historically made by the current Lord of the Manor of Addington to be served upon thecoronation of the monarch of England in akitchen serjeanty.[1] The Leigh family gained thisserjeanty upon becoming Lords of the Manor of Addington sometime before 1504. The Addington estate was owned by the Leigh family until the early 18th century.
The last owner Sir John Leigh died without heirs in 1737 and his estates went to distant relatives, who eventually sold toBarlow Trecothick.[2] Trecothick had been brought up inBoston,Massachusetts, and became a merchant there. He then moved to London, still trading as a merchant, and later sat asMember of Parliament (MP) for theCity of London in 1768–74, and served asLord Mayor in 1770. He bought the estate for £38,500 (equivalent to £6,740,000 in 2023).
He built a new house, designed byRobert Mylne in thePalladian style; a country mansion with single-storey wings. He died before it was completed in 1774[2] and it was inherited by his heir, James Ivers of Boston MA, who had to take the surname Trecothick in order to inherit the estate. James continued the work on the house, having the substantial grounds and gardens landscaped byLancelot "Capability" Brown. Owing to financial difficulties, James Trecothick had to sell the estate in 1802. The estate was sold in lots in 1803.[2] The next owners (William Coles and Westgarth Snaith)[2] also got into financial trouble and sold it byact of Parliament in 1807. This enabled the mansion to be purchased for theArchbishops of Canterbury, since nearbyCroydon Palace had become dilapidated and inconvenient. The name becameAddington Farm whilst owned by the archbishops, much later it became known as Addington Palace. The archbishops made further changes and enlarged the building; work on the building was overseen byRichard Norman Shaw.
It became the official summer residence of six archbishops:
All except Benson are buried inSt Mary's Church or churchyard, Addington: Benson is buried inCanterbury Cathedral.
The house was sold in 1897 toFrederick Alexander English, a diamond merchant fromSouth Africa. After his death, the mansion was taken over during theFirst World War by theRed Cross and became a fever hospital. Eventually, in 1930, it came into the hands of theCounty Borough of Croydon.
The house wasGrade II*listed in 1951.[3] In 1953, it was leased to theRoyal School of Church Music, initially to house choirboys assembled from all over Britain to sing at thecoronation of Queen Elizabeth II.[4] The building housed the Royal School of Church Music's music publishing operation, residential college and choir school until 1996, when a private company took it over for development as a conference and banqueting venue, health farm and country club. It was used extensively forweddings[5] until the company operating it went into liquidation in 2021.[6]
It is surrounded by a park and golf courses, and its gardens are still largely in their original design. Much of the grounds have been leased by golf clubs and the exclusive Bishops Walk housing development was built on Bishops Walk (a private road).[citation needed]
A largecedar of Lebanon stands next to the palace, one of theGreat Trees of London.[7]
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51°21′27″N0°02′27″W / 51.35750°N 0.04083°W /51.35750; -0.04083
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