near thereto adjoining, in trust, to sell the same; and for disposing of and applying the money to arise thereby, and received on account of the dilapidations thereof, and other money, in the manner and for the purposes therein mentioned." It is stated in the preamble of the act, I. That the Palace was in so low and unwholesome a situation, and in many respects so incommodious and unfit to be the habitation of an Archbishop of Canterbury, that few of the Archbishops had of late years been able to reside there, and the same was then unfit to be their habitation. 2. That there then stood on the books of the South Sea Company £5402 3 3 old South Sea annuities, in the names of Frederick, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, and Richard Maurice Jones, Gent. deceased, in trust for the See, as stock which had been formerly purchased with money allowed by the commissioners for building Westminster bridge as a compensation to the Archbishop of Canterbury and his successors, for the loss they sustained by destroying the horse-ferry from Lambeth to Mill-bank, the dividends whereof, amounting to £162 1 2, had been received by the Archbishops of Canterbury for their own use and benefit. 3. That there was also standing in the name of the Archbishop £1564 4 11 3 per cent. consolidated Bank Annuities, purchased by him in May, 1769 with the monies received by him for dilapidations at Croydon, and which, with the accumulated interest, amounted to £2360 3 4. That the Archbishop had lately purchased the leasehold interest in a farm belonging to the See of Canterbury, called Park Hill, most pleasantly situated within half a mile or thereabouts of the town of Croydon, and very proper for building on part thereof, a new palace for the use of the said Archbishop and his successors, in lieu of the palace of Croydon.-These facts having been proved to the satisfaction of Parliament, the act received the royal assent in the year 1780; and the trustees were thereby enabled to sell the palace, either together, or in parcels, or to pull down the buildings and sell the materials; and on payment of the purchase-money, to convey the same in fee to the purchaser. After payment of the charge of procuring the act, and the expenses of sale, the residue of the purchase-money, with the produce of the South Sea annuities, to be laid out in three per Cent. consolidated Bank annuities, which, with the sums then standing in that particular stock, was directed to be transferred to the name of the accountant general of the high court of Chancery, till the same should be paid out for the purpose of building a palace on part of the said Park Hill farm, for the residence of the Archbishop and his successors, in lieu of the palace at Croydon, in such manner as the Lord Chancellor, Lord keeper, or Lord Commissioners should direct; the accumulated interest in the mean time to be added to the capital stock; the receipt of the trustees to be a good discharge to the purchasers, and the receipt of the Cashier of the bank, with the certificate of the Accountant General, to be a good discharge of the trustees. All that part of Park Hill farm, late in the tenure of John Stables, Esq. and the building thereon, were appropriated for the building of a new palace, and for a demesne to be annexed thereto; but no lease to be made thereof by the Archbishop or his successors, for any longer time than during their respective lives; and the Archbishop and his successors to be indemnified against all costs on account of dilapidations at Croydon. By this Act the palace and its appurtenances, were vested in four trustees, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and the Bishops of London and Winchester for the time being; who sold them on the 10th of October 1780, to Abraham Pitches, Esq. (afterwards a Knight) of Streatham for the sum of £2520. The palace is now let to persons engaged in the business of printing linen; and the garden is converted into a bleaching ground-such are the vicissitudes attending the works of earthly magnificence. IT CHAP. XIV. Court House-Market House. T appears that a market house was built in Croydon chiefly at the expense of Francis * Tirrel in the year 1566. This building having stood more than 200 years, had been long decaying, and owing to the increasing trade of the town, become inadequate to the purpose for which it was intended, was at last pulled down in the Summer of 1807, when a brass plate, taken from one of the girders, exhibited the following inscription: This Markett Howse was bvylt att -don who was borne in this Towne And departed this worlde in Sepbr. 1609. *For his other benefactions, see his epitaph in the Appendix. After the unfortunate contest which we have mentioned in a former chapter*, Messrs Jolliffe and Banks, of Merstham, contracted to build the present court-house. It is a spacious convenient structure of stone, erected upon the scite of Francis Tirrell's market-house, and is ornamental to the town. It has a handsome cupola, containing a bell and a clock. The interior of the building consists of two large and convenient courts, with rooms for the judges, sheriffs, grand jury, and officers attendant upon them. The civil causes are tried in the upper Court, where the ladies are accommodated with a gallery. In this part of the building a court of Requests is held every fortnight, for the recovery of debts under the sum of £5, The crown business is conducted in the court below, in which the corn market is also held every Saturday, except, of course, when his Majesty's commissioners administer justice on that day. In the judges' room, the local magistrates assemble every market-day, to transact the business of their division. * See page 55. |