The Croydon Heritage Festival celebrates its fifth year in 2017, bringing a range of events and attractions to the town from Saturday June 24 to Friday June 30.
The Whitgift Foundation, the festival organisers, have announced that the theme of this year’s festival will be Evolution, looking at the changing face of Croydon throughout its history.
Croydon history is marked with evolution; growing from a village of 365 residents listed in the Domesday Book to a market town and a centre for charcoal production, leather tanning and brewing in the Middle Ages.
The palace in Croydon was the summer residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury for more than 500 years, including Queen Elizabeth I’s Archbishop John Whitgift, who in 1596 founded a charity in his name to educate the young and care for the elderly.
The arrival of The Surrey Iron Railway, the world’s first public railway, in 1803 facilitated Croydon’s growth as a commuter town for London, leading to expansion and improvement. Following the devastation of WWII, Croydon Council instigated a major redevelopment scheme and the town boomed as a business centre in the 1960s.
To celebrate its fifth birthday the Festival is evolving its own programme to bring a fresh line-up of events to the town.
One of the most loved aspects of the festival, Open Buildings, will be back for 2017, with many of Croydon’s most important buildings open for public tours throughout the week.
If you have a proposal for an Evolution themed event or an Open Building as part of the festival, please contact: info@Croydonheritagefestival.co.uk.
The Heritage Festival website is here.
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