Archbishop Warham built one of the largest palaces in England covering 1.16ha (about 4 acres), comparable in size to Hampton Court
He later wrote (Ch. Ch. Cant Register T 1526) The buildings of Otford were ruinous by neglect, but now sufficiently repaired and enlarged and a great house has been built with galleries and towers, and various new gardens have also been created.
“On the scite of this antient palace [at Canterbury], archbishop Warham is said to have intended to have raised a most sumptuous one for himself and his successors; but on account of a difference which arose between him and the citizens, concerning the limits of his ground here, he changed his former intention, and in his displeasure bestowed on his palace at Otford, which before this was but a mean house, [costing] 33,000 [pounds]. leaving nothing of the former building standing.” (Edwards Halsted, (1801) The history and topographical survey of the county of Kent second edition, volume 12. Canterbury)
Although ‘nothing of the former building was left standing,’ archaeological investigations have confirmed that the foundations of most of the Medieval Manor were untouched and that Warham added the North, East and West ranges, together with the Towers and the Grand Gatehouse.