Category Archives: History

Minster memorial celebrates life of Victorian woman reformer

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: Croydon society in the late 1800s included several organisations formed to provide help, education and training to the destitute, and their work was at the heart of social reforms to come. DAVID MORGAN profiles the life of one … Continue reading

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Alon Schwarz’s Tantura, Ruskin House Screen Club, Dec 1

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How Melbourne’s White Flats is linked forever to Croydon

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: A thriving business and shopping district, quick public transport links to the city centre, and established city status for a half a century. DAVID MORGAN has traced the history of Croydon outside Melbourne back to its pioneer beginnings … Continue reading

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A thousand years of history: join our Minster tour, Nov 28

Croydon Minster has been at the heart of the life of the town for more than a thousand years. And on Tuesday, November 28, you will have a chance to discover a myriad of fascinating details of the connections between … Continue reading

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Annie Besant: ‘I will speak for all the despairing silent ones’

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: Last month, the Phoenix Retirement Association in Crystal Palace hosted one of its regular talks, this time about the Victorian radical Annie Besant, a woman who led the matchgirls’ strike, popularised the cause of birth control, was courted … Continue reading

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Amnesty International Lindy Hop Dance, Ruskin House, Nov 25

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Ruskin House Film Screen Club: The Old Oak, Nov 24

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Council forgets to clean up Croydon’s listed war memorial

For all the platitudes proffered about honouring the dead from two world wars and other conflicts, Croydon’s civic leaders have done very little… well, nothing, to maintain and clean the war memorial outside the Town Hall. The Croydon war memorial, … Continue reading

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Purley schoolboy who reached for the sky in Battle of Britain

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: The Minster archives are full of accounts of those who gave their lives in the world wars. DAVID MORGAN recounts the story of one, a fighter pilot who just might have been memorialised in a famous movie While … Continue reading

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Warlingham youngsters prepare the ground for Remembrance

Preparations for the solemn ceremonials on Remembrance Sunday at Warlingham Green War Memorial were much helped last weekend by a work party from the local rugby club. Warlingham RFC, which is itself in its centenary year, put out a call … Continue reading

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Family keepsakes providing last link to another of war’s victims

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: Life at the front in World War I was often brief, bloody and brutal. DAVID MORGAN uncovers some of the last pieces of correspondence from one of the soldiers inscribed on Croydon Minster’s Roll of Honour A few … Continue reading

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Croydon’s urban heritage, free talk, Ashburton Library, Nov 20

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Victorian schools where Scripture had priority over science

In a previous article, JERRY FITZPATRICK, pictured right, looked at the history of Croydon’s first state school as it marks its 150th anniversary. Here, he sets out what school life was like in the final years of the 19th Century, … Continue reading

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Lady Mary’s Restoration tunes and her ghostly legacies

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: The registers at Croydon Minster contain 17th Century records of the Harvey family who worked for Archbishop Laud and, as DAVID MORGAN explains, had a musician daughter who made a notable piece of history It is another claim … Continue reading

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Battle lines drawn over proposal for 87 houses on RAF Kenley

Residents in Kenley, Old Coulsdon and nearby Caterham have been expressing deep concern about proposals to build 87 “barrack-style” houses on part of what used to be RAF Kenley. The planning application has been lodged with Tandridge District Council for … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Caterham, City Commons, Coulsdon, Environment, History, Housing, Kenley, Kenley Airfield Friends Group, Old Coulsdon, Old Coulsdon Residents' Association, Planning, Property, Surrey, Tandridge District Council | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Join us and Croydon Ramblers for 5-mile tour of New Hill

Inside Croydon is delighted to announce that it is joining forces with the local branch of the Ramblers’ Association to take part in an invigorating amble around New Hill, Driftway and Netherne. The walk on Sunday, November 12 (which this … Continue reading

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Goodwyn’s list that takes us back through to Tudor times

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: A document from the church archive, which dates back to the 16th Century, provides a vital insight into society 500 years ago, as DAVID MORGAN explains Nearly 500 years ago, the curate at Croydon Parish Church, John Goodwyn, … Continue reading

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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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London’s capital celebration of 50 years of transport Freedom

Former GLC councillor DAVID WHITE, pictured right, looks back to a scheme that revolutionised travel for generations of Londoners and ahead to a 50th birthday event this weekend It is 50 years since the Freedom Pass transformed getting around the … 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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Historic England tries to future-proof dinos with 3D models

Twenty-nine interactive 3D models of the surviving Crystal Palace Victorian dinosaur sculptures have been created by Historic England, in collaboration with the Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. The models let you get up close and personal with the Grade I-listed … Continue reading

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Ruskin House Film Club: radical screenings through to Nov

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Mitcham Cricket Green Heritage Day, free activities, Sep 9

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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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Carnival of Invention, Stanley Arts, South Norwood, Sep 10

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