History
The church was established in the middle Saxon period, and is believed to have been a minster church: one which served as a base for a group of clergy living a communal life, who may have taken some pastoral responsibility for the population of the surrounding district. A charter issued by King Coenwulf of Mercia refers to a council which had taken place close to what is called the monasterium (meaning minster) of Croydon. An Anglo-Saxon will made in about 960 is witnessed by Elfsies, priest of Croydon; and the church is also mentioned in Domesday Book (1086).
The earliest clear record of the church's dedication to St John the Baptist is found in the will of John de Croydon, fishmonger, dated 6 December 1347, which includes a bequest to "the church of S. John de Croydon".
In its final medieval form, the church was mainly a Perpendicular-style structure of late 14th and early 15th-century date. It still bears the arms of archbishops Courtenay and Chicheley, believed to have been its benefactors. However, in 1867 this building was gutted by fire.
Under the direction of Sir George Gilbert Scott it was rebuilt, incorporating some of the medieval remains (notably the west tower and south porch), and essentially following the same design, while extending the building's footprint further east. It was reconsecrated in 1870. It still contains several important monuments and fittings saved from the old building. The church was elevated to the status of Croydon Minster (the modern honorific title) on 29 May 2011, the first such change in the diocese of Southwark.
Croydon has strong religious links, Croydon Palace having been a residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury from at least the beginning of the 13th century to the beginning of the 19th. The Bishop of Croydon is a position as a suffragan Bishop in the Anglican Diocese of Southwark. As of 2012 the bishopric was vacant following the translation of Nicholas (Nick) Baines to be Bishop of Bradford; and the vicar was Colin J Luke Boswell, Vicar of Croydon and Chaplain to the Whitgift Foundation. A list of the bishops of the Episcopal Area of Croydon includes:
| Tenure | Incumbent | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| William Louis Anderson | ||
| Maurice Harland | ||
| Cuthbert Killick Norman Bardsley | ||
| John Taylor Hughes | ||
| Stuart Snell | ||
| Wilfred Wood | ||
| Nicholas Baines |
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