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Category Archives: History
This was a pub landlord who never needed any bouncers
CROYDON CHRONICLE: The Crown on North End, demolished in 1950, was a coaching inn with a history that stretched back 500 years, and whose many landlords included Jack Martin, a bare-knuckle boxer from the Regency era whose fights would attract … Continue reading
Posted in Boxing, David Morgan, History
Tagged Boxing, Croydon, David Morgan, Jack Martin, Jack Randall, KIng George IV, North End, Prince of Wales, Regency England, The Crown
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Borough’s archives get £10,000 grant to ask obvious questions
It’s been a tough few years under Tory austerity for Croydon’s once cherished libraries and museum, and their hard-working staff. So the news that the borough’s archives service has received a £10,000 grant to help research a special project has … Continue reading
Posted in Bourne Society, Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society, Education, History, Libraries, Museum of Croydon
Tagged CNH&SS, Conservative, Croydon, Croydon Archives, Croydon Clocktower, Croydon Council, Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society, John Gent, John Gent collection, Museum of Croydon, National Archive, The Bourne Society, Tory
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10 shillings to join the Goose Club and lay on a Christmas feast
CROYDON CHRONICLE: Christmas is coming, as the old saying goes, and the goose is getting fat… DAVID MORGAN looks back to the Dickensian era, when financial planning for the end-of-year revels was serious business for the likes of Surrey Street … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Minster, David Morgan, History, Surrey Street
Tagged Charles Dickens, Christmas, Crown Hill, David Morgan, Goose Club, Marmaduke Willis, Phiz, Surrey Street, West Croydon
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Jamaica and Cuba Benefit Concert, Ruskin House, Sat Dec 6
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Oh yes she is! Victorian dancer who became a pantomime star
CROYDON CHRONICLES: One of the great British traditions of this time of year is the family visit to the theatre, or to a church hall for the local am-dram performance, during pantomime season. DAVID MORGAN traces the career of Caroline … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Comedy, Dance, David Morgan, Fairfield Halls, History, Music, Stanley Halls, Theatre
Tagged Caroline Parkes, Charles Fenton, Croydon, Croydon Chronicles, Crystal Palace, David Morgan, Dick Whittington, Fairfield Halls, Panto, pantomime, Sanderstead Dramatic Club, Stanley Halls, The Brothers Grinn, Theatre Royal
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Intriguing secret societies offer more than conspiracy theories
KEN TOWL delved into the little-known world of local literary societies, the ‘Lits’, where talk is cheap and at least the fruitcakes promise ‘no nuts’ I have discovered a hidden world, a world that exists in the shadows, a world … Continue reading
Posted in Activities, Addiscombe West, Church and religions, Community associations, Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Education, History, Ken Towl, Norwood Society, Purley, Purley Literary Society, Redhill, Sanderstead
Tagged Addiscombe, CNH&SS, Croydon, Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society, East Croydon, Ken Towl, Literary Societies, Margaret Thatcher, Purley, Purley Literary Society, Redhill, Sanderstead, Sanderstead Literary Society, Shaw's Corner Literary Society, St Mildred's Literary Society, The Lit
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The casualties of war are not always killed on the battlefield
THE CROYDON CHRONICLES: There is history all around the Minster, not only in the archive, as shown this week as DAVID MORGAN provides the story behind one of the church’s plaques, which dates from more than 120 years ago, and … Continue reading
Posted in Church and religions, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, History
Tagged 12th Royal Lancers, Arthur Conan-Doyle, Battle of Modder River, Boer War, Croydon, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, General Kitchener, James Laver, Kimberley, Lord Roberts, Natal, Queen Victoria, Second Boer War
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The heretic bishop who recanted to avoid burning at the stake
SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: Reginald Peacock was consecrated as a bishop in a service conducted in the Archbishop’s palace in Croydon, but had to survive a show trial and ritual humiliation on the streets of Medieval London, as DAVID MORGAN writes The … Continue reading
Posted in Archbishop of Canterbury, Church and religions, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, History
Tagged Agincourt, Archbishop of Canterbury, Archbishop Thomas Bouchier, Bishop of Chichester, Bishop of St Asaph, Bishop Reginald Peacock, Chichester, Croydon Minster, Croydon Parish Church, David Morgan, Dick Whittington, Hundred Years War, John Wycliffe, King Henry V, King Henry VI, Lollards, Old Palace, Pope Calixtus III, Reginald Peacock, St Asaph, Wars of the Roses
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Works begin on park’s dinosaur-themed adventure playground
Amid all the regeneration works taking place within the Grade II*-listed Crystal Palace Park, there’s also a busy schedule of events coming up, including Christmas wreath-making, a charity fun run and an arts and crafts fair in the award-winning Subway … Continue reading
Posted in Activities, Arts and Crafts Market, Charity, Croydon parks, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Crystal Palace Park, History
Tagged Adventure playground, Arts and Crafts Fair, Christmas, Croydon, Crystal Palace, Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, Crystal Palace dinosaurs, Crystal Palace Park, Crystal Palace Park Trust, Crystal Palace Subway, Dinosaurs, Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, Joseph Paxton
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Millionaire developer Ansari loses appeal on guard dog charges
After having convictions upheld relating to his giant Kangals, controversial Croydon figure now focuses on his planning appeals over the Leslie Arms pub in Addiscombe, a listed building on the ‘heritage at risk’ list Almost a year since he was … Continue reading
Posted in Addiscombe West, Business, Croydon parks, History, Housing, Leslie Arms, Lloyd Park, Property, Pubs
Tagged AA Homes, Anwar Ansari, Cherry Orchard Road, Coombe Farm, Croydon, Friends of Lloyd Park, Kangal, Labour, Leslie Arms, Lloyd Park, Lower Addiscombe Road, Metropolitan Police, Oaks Road, The Victorian Society, Turkish Kangal
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Remembrance and History: a special Croydon Insider episode
Can you help in our appeal, with the Deputy Lieutenant of Croydon, in providing details of personnel from Croydon who have been killed on active duty in the years since the end of World War II? On Remembrance Sunday, our … Continue reading
Posted in Bourne Society, Croydon Airport, Croydon Insider, Croydon Minster, Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society, David Morgan, History, Inside Croydon, Johnny Dobbyn, Under The Flyover
Tagged Battle of the Somme, Caterham, Croydon, Croydon Airport, David Morgan, Deputy Lieutenant of Croydon, Fiona Satiro, First World War, Johnny Dobbyn, London, Menin Gate, Phil Swallow, Remembrance Day, Remembrance Sunday, Royal West Surrey Regiment, Second World War, Warlingham, World War I, World War II, World War One, World War Two, Ypres
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Solemn Sunday of memorials at New Addington and Town Hall
This year’s anniversary of the Sandilands tram crash coincides with national commemorations for Remembrance Sunday Croydon will remember those who lost their lives in the Sandilands tram derailment at a civic ceremony this Sunday, November 9, in New Addington. This … Continue reading
Posted in History, New Addington, New Addington North, Sandilands derailment, Tramlink, Transport
Tagged Croydon Council, Croydon Town Hall, Croydon tram crash, Katharine Street, London Borough of Croydon, New Addington, Remembrance Day, Remembrance Sunday, Sandilands, Sandilands derailment
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Armistice Day: when Croydon was ‘beflagged’ with good cause
SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: Croydon’s joyful response to the news that war had ended in 1918 was widely covered in the local newspapers 107 years ago. DAVID MORGAN sifts through the cuttings in the Minster archives By this time next Sunday, most … Continue reading
Our archive of Inside Croydon’s Remembrance Day articles
Each year, around the time of the ceremonies for Remembrance Day, the Croydon Minister archivist, DAVID MORGAN, has produced a series of often moving articles about the sacrifices made by the men and women of the parish in the 20th … Continue reading
Chaldon 200 years ago history talk, Chaldon Village Hall, Nov 8
S U B S C R I B E R A D V E R T I S E M E N T
CronxWatch delivers up some ghostly tales for Halloween
CronxWatch, the off-beat local YouTube video channel, has served up a ghoulish collection of stories of murderers and hauntings just in time for Halloween. Though it delivered up one small mystery of its own: what happened to the tale of … Continue reading
Posted in History
Tagged CronxWatch, Croydon, Croydon Airport, Croydon High Street, David Weir, YouTube
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Jo Brand’s on message for TfL as it stages £1m poppy appeal
Transport for London has joined up with the Royal British Legion and Jo Brand, the south London comedian, presenter and writer, to encourage London Poppy Day donations across the capital’s transport network today, October 30. Around 2,000 TfL workers, veterans … Continue reading
Posted in Charity, Church and religions, History, TfL
Tagged Jo Brand, Poppy Appeal, Remembrance Sunday, Royal British Legion, TfL, Transport for London
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The Croydon schoolboy who was among Ypres’ first casualties
SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: The Third Battle of Ypres in 1917 lasted five months and claimed 300,000 allied casualties. DAVID MORGAN recounts the tragic story of one of them, Captain Henry Willders-Lewis, from Croydon, who died on the first day of the … Continue reading
Black History Month Celebration, South Croydon, Oct 28
S U B S C R I B E R A D V E R T I S E M E N T
Wandle Park postcard begins trace of a Pitlake family’s history
SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: They were the WhatsApp and TikTok of their time, and Edwardian era postcards can provide intriguing beginnings to local history searches, as DAVID MORGAN found out In the early years of the 20th century, the sending of postcards … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon parks, David Morgan, History, Selhurst, Waddon, Wandle Park, West Croydon
Tagged Alice Boddison, Big Ben, Croydon, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, Derby Arms, Isaac Boddison, Ontario, Peterborough Ontario, Pitlake, Selhurst, Waddon, Wandle Park, West Croydon, White Star Line
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Celebrate Black History Month, free dinner, CVA, Oct 22
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The Town Hall hero of the Great War who ran Croydon’s baths
SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: A special ceremony held at Croydon Town Hall in November 1918 saw a council worker awarded the Military Medal and the Croix de Guerre. DAVID MORGAN tells the story of Ernest Saunders’ bravery in battle We are at … Continue reading
Posted in Church and religions, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, History
Tagged Croix de Guerre, Croydon, Croydon Council, Croydon Minster, Croydon Parish Church, Croydon Town Hall, David Morgan, Ernest Saunders, First World War, Military Medal, Remembrance Sunday, The Great War, World War I, World War One
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Veteran car run to take a swerve past road affected by closures
Organisers of the 2025 London to Brighton Veteran Car Run have altered the route through central Croydon when the event takes place early on the morning of Sunday November 2. The 400-or-so road-worthy museum pieces taking part in this annual … Continue reading
Ghosts that stalk our streets and the history we learn from them
KEN TOWL sets off to find as many ghost signs as he can According to Historic England, ghost signs are “typically historic hand-painted advertising signs or old shop signs preserved on buildings that have since changed use”. They go on … Continue reading
Posted in Activities, Addiscombe East, Business, History, Ken Towl, Kenley, Post Office
Tagged Addiscombe, Croydon, Croydon High Street, Grants, Grants Department Store, Kenley, Kenley Hotel, MIlletts, Milletts Corner, Purley, Surrey Street
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Cranmer and Croydon’s part in the Book of Common Prayer
SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: This week’s announcement of the appointment of a new Archbishop of Canterbury will have revived interest in Croydon’s connections with the role, with six of Dame Sarah Mullally’s predecessors being buried at the Minster. Here, DAVID MORGAN tells … Continue reading
Posted in Church and religions, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, History
Tagged Anne Boleyn, Archbishop of Canterbury, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, Catherine of Aragon, Church of England, Croydon, Croydon Minster, Croydon Palace, David Morgan, English Reformation, Hugh Latimer, King Edward VI, King Henry VIII, Nicholas Ridley, Queen Mary, Queen Mary I, Roman Catholic, Thomas Cromwell, Tower of London
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