Category Archives: Croydon Minster

Victorians’ favourite artist for capturing lines of Classic winners

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: From his home on Warrington Road, George Paice became one of the leading Victorian and Edwardian-era artists, specialising in painting the gentry’s pets and racehorses. DAVID MORGAN traces his career, beginning from a WWI memorial in Croydon Minster … Continue reading

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Sharpe’s rebellion in Jamaica highlighted the plight of slaves

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: Concluding his tour of places around the world named after Croydon, DAVID MORGAN takes a look at a former plantation in Jamaica and its links to a famous slave uprising One of the popular destinations for tourists today … Continue reading

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Tudor sculptor’s Minster memorials stand the test of time

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: Following up on an enquiry from a visitor to Croydon Minster, DAVID MORGAN goes in search of the sculptor of one of the church’s best-known tombs Visitors to Croydon Minster often ask interesting questions about the history of … Continue reading

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80 years on the stage – taking Croydon from the Blitz to Narnia

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: This year marks the 80th anniversary of the first performances by CODA, the Croydon Operatic and Dramatic Association, making it one of the longest-lasting community arts organisations in the borough. DAVID MORGAN looks into how the group came … Continue reading

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The chimney sweep to Queen Victoria and ancestor to a star

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: No need to go all Dick Van Dyke, when Croydon had its very own chimney sweep to the Queen, no less, as DAVID MORGAN has discovered in his latest delve into the Croydon Minster archive “Good luck will … Continue reading

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Croydon Airport was take-off point for a life of innovation

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: From being a pilot in World War I to working as a visionary minister caring for the vulnerable during the Great Depression, Don Robins had an inspiring career, writes DAVID MORGAN Croydon Airport in the 1920s was at … Continue reading

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The ‘incompetent’ Lebombo scout who helped win Boer War

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: In the latest stage of his world tour of places named after Croydon, DAVID MORGAN encounters some old-style adventurers in southern Africa If you are a fan of the quiz show Pointless, then you will know that Eswatini … Continue reading

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Croydon gold rush that saw thousands move to the outback

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: Using the parish records from the Croydon Minster archive as his starting point, DAVID MORGAN’s world tour takes him to the harsh Queensland sheep stations of the 1880s “There’s gold in them thar hills!” The cry goes up, … Continue reading

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The battle to save ticket offices – and Croydon’s private army

Our latest podcast includes among our guests former Olympic sprinter Donna Fraser. It’s the first time on our podcast we have had the pleasure of the company of someone who holds the Freedom of the Borough, as Donna does.

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Spectacular history of Addiscombe college is required reading

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: It played a significant part of the history of Croydon, and of Britain, yet today is largely forgotten. DAVID MORGAN reviews an important and surprising new book about Addiscombe Military College Kate Birbeck’s new book Addiscombe Military College … Continue reading

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Hard lives for the Puritan pioneers of new state New Hampshire

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: The name ‘Croydon’ has travelled the world and here DAVID MORGAN tracks the 18th Century founding of a frontiers town in New Hampshire The practice of migrants from these islands naming their new settlements after the home town … Continue reading

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Minster moments that brought culture from the pub to pulpit

It had little to do with Croydon, apart from providing a venue for its latest stop on a national tour, but veteran arts reviewer BELLA BARTOCK’s first encounter with an event tacked on to the Borough of Culture left her … Continue reading

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Hardships and dangers on the Utah trail heading to Croydon

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: The pioneering settlers of early 19th Century America expressed their ‘manifest destiny’ by founding a settlement in the Rockies that they called ‘Croydon’. DAVID MORGAN explores what they will have found on the Utah frontier There is, you … Continue reading

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Millionaire Mayor who made sacrifices for others and an ideal

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: One of the borough’s most-revered figures from the Edwardian era lost everything when he declared himself bankrupt. DAVID MORGAN recounts the noble story of Howard Houlder With Heathfield House and its gardens falling steadily into a state of … Continue reading

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How Croydon lodged itself forever in a part of Philadelphia

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: In the tumultuous 18th Century, a time of trade, international war and revolution, Croydon’s links with America were many and varied, as DAVID MORGAN’s latest researches have discovered One of the names that I have found in the … Continue reading

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The Sixteen choral pilgrimage, Croydon Minster, Sep 25

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Ship Ahoy! schools and choirs concert, Croydon Minster, Jul 1

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Pioneering Croydon cricketer who led the way against Australia

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: A summer of Test cricket is little more than a week away, with the Ashes to come next month. Here DAVID MORGAN delves back 200 years into the archives to a time when the England team did actually … Continue reading

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Only few precious places remain on guided tours of Old Palace

Time is running out for you to secure a precious place on one of the 2023 tours of Croydon Old Palace, for the chance to take a trip back in time hundreds of years, to the age of the first … Continue reading

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Kelly’s heroics and the tale of a soldier’s hard life and death

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: One of the feted heroes in Wellington’s army made a home in Croydon but, as DAVID MORGAN explains, his duties took him far from his wife and family “Daddy! Daddy! Tell us again the story of what you … Continue reading

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Gravestone destruction erases link to Royal Waggon Train

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: One of the casualties of the churchyard vandalism at Croydon Minster last month was the gravestone of an old soldier who served in the Napoleonic Wars. DAVID MORGAN looks at the service of John Kennedy and two other … Continue reading

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Carnage in Carshalton on the day the balloon went up

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: Croydon’s association with pioneering aviation is focused on the former airport. But DAVID MORGAN has found evidence of an historic flight over the town that took place almost 100 years before Britain’s first international airport was opened The … Continue reading

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Gravestone destruction at Minster investigated as ‘hate crime’

The destruction of dozens of gravestones in the churchyard of Croydon Minster at Easter is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police as a hate crime, the MP for the area and the Vicar of Croydon have confirmed. More than 20 … Continue reading

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Lunchtime music recitals at Croydon Minster, May 5-Jul 7

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Croydon painter Sant, a portrait artist by Royal Appointment

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: One hundred and fifty years ago, Queen Victoria chose a Croydon-born artist to be her ‘Principal Painter in Ordinary to Her Majesty’, but as  DAVID MORGAN discovered, she never liked his work As Croydon celebrates being the London … Continue reading

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