I have two Raleigh Sports frames here, and a set of 37-700C Kenda tires on Weinmann 519 rims. The front would fit if the fork dropouts were larger, (the 9mm axles won't fit into the smaller Raleigh fork dropouts). The tires would easily clear the fenders. The rear is different on both bikes, the older frame will not fit the 700c wheels with or without fenders, they would fit on the 1972 frame but the fenders would be super close at the front. A smaller tire would help but it would have to be a much narrower tire.
I tried them on a 1962 Hercules frameset and there's far less clearance both front and rear, they may fit the front but not with fenders, the rear is not happening with a the 700-37c tire with or without a fender.
With all this in mind, I've got a buddy who has a late model Sports, I think his is a 1979 model, and he put a set of CR18 36 spoke 700c rims on it with white wall tires, they're a tight fit but they do fit with the fenders.
My thought was that maybe the later bikes were built a bit larger for this reason? Maybe if Raleigh had continued we may have seen a 700C Sports?
I had a Motobecane Nobly once, it had 27x1 1/4" Hutchinson gumwall tires on Rigida Chromolux rims with the serrated sides, and an SA AW hub.
I bought a his/hers pair at a yard sale for $10 back in 1979, The owner said they were 3 years old, he and his wife were moving to FL and couldn't take them along.
The one thing I remember most about them is that they tended to rust easily, no matter what I did I kept getting rust popping up on the rims and even on the paint. I'd clean, polish and wax them to look like new, and two weeks later they were rusting again. I finally gave up and sold them both. The things were getting rusty sitting inside the house, and I don't live near the shore. My Raleigh bikes never rusted like that.
I also had a Peugeot three speed in the early 80's, it had 27" alloy Super Champion wheels, 1 1/4" tires, aluminum fenders, and an AW hub, that bike was almost as bad with the rust issues but mostly just due to the poor paint they used. My biggest issue with that bike was that it kept popping spokes, so I finally respoked both wheels with straight gauge DT stainless spokes and the problem was solved. (For some reason my size and Robergel double butted spokes just never got along).
I had bought the Peugeot at a bike shop that was closing and got it brand new for something like $30 cash, (The hang tag price was only $59.99 back then).
Neither were bad riding bikes but they weren't as well built as a Raleigh when it came to paint and chrome. The Nobly bikes didn't stop well, the serrated rims didn't help in the rain, and the original saddle on the men's model didn't last a month under my then 250lbs or so.
The ladies model pretty much just got hung in the garage and rarely used.
I had the Peugeot for a few years, but it sort of became a loaner bike at some point and someone crashed it bending the frame and forks on it The wheels are still hanging in my basement.