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Tag Archives: Croydon Parish Church
How Croydon got its first shopping centre, 750 years ago
CROYDON CHRONICLES: As the town centre’s ancient market reaches its 750th anniversary, DAVID MORGAN charts its growth from its beginnings as Butchers Row, aided by the patronage of commercially-minded Archbishops of Canterbury “Where there are two or three people gathered … Continue reading
Posted in Business, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, History, Surrey Street
Tagged 1276, 750th anniversary, Archbishop John de Stratford, Archbishop of Canterbury, Archbishop Robert Kilwardby, Croydon, Croydon Minster, Croydon Parish Church, David Morgan, King Edward I, Surrey Street, Surrey Street Market
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Minster’s ornate altar artwork that still retains its mysteries
CROYDON CHRONICLES: A search to find the history of an altar frontal used at Croydon Minster reveals a tale from Shanghai, an ARP warden in World War II, freemasonry, a men’s outfitters shop on Croydon High Street and a nurseryman … Continue reading
How Mary Care and Operation Crocus changed lives in Croydon
CROYDON CHRONICLES: Much has changed around the town centre over the last 50 years, not least in the area of accessibility to public buildings and spaces. Some of the pioneering work was catalogued by a woman with cerebral palsy, whose … Continue reading
Posted in Arnhem Gallery, Charity, Community associations, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, Fairfield Halls
Tagged Accessibility, Arnhem Gallery, BBC Home Service, Croydon Minster, Croydon Parish Church, David Morgan, Diabled access, Fairfield Halls, Mary Care, Operation Crocus, Peter Bowness, The Silver Lining, Townswomens Guild, Wheelchair users
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18th Century property pages that show growth of Croydon
CROYDON CHRONICLES: Property auctions are nothing new. There have been businesses wheeling and dealing over house sales and land disposals for hundreds of years. DAVID MORGAN pores over the property ads placed by auctioneer John Blake to discover more about … Continue reading
Posted in Church and religions, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, History
Tagged Auctioneer, Croydon Minster, Croydon Parish Church, David Morgan, John Blake
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Nightwatch’s volunteers remember Jamie Keating every night
CROYDON CHRONICLES: This week, Minster archivist DAVID MORGAN has gone back just 50 years, for a heart-rending story of volunteers and sacrifice that began with a local newspaper reporter and the Parish Church’s curate going out on to the streets … Continue reading
Posted in Charity, Church and religions, Croydon Minster, Croydon Nightwatch, David Morgan, History, Jad Adams
Tagged austerity, Canon Colin Boswell, Cllr Mohammed Islam, Conservative, Covid-19, Croydon Council, Croydon Minster, Croydon Nightwatch, Croydon Parish Church, David Morgan, David Randall, Jad Adams, Margaret Thatcher, Nightwatch, Nightwatch 50th anniversary, Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, Queens Gardens, Rev Martin Wharton, Right-to-buy, Thatcher government, Tory
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Family counts cost of burglary during Croydon’s Walnut Fair
CROYDON CHRONICLES: Archive newspaper reports of a burglary on Church Street in 1861 provide a useful insight into the possessions of a Victorian household, as DAVID MORGAN explains Burglaries are not new crimes. A trawl through the local newspaper archives … Continue reading
The high street business that made sure Croydon was on song
CROYDON CHRONICLES: A talented musician established a business that over the course of 60 years taught and encouraged at least 30,000 youngsters to sing, play an instrument or perform on stage. DAVID MORGAN looks at the life and career of … Continue reading
The weather warnings from history: thunderbolts and lightning
CROYDON CHRONICLES: A timely trawl through the Minster archive has discovered reports of extreme weather episodes going back more than 400 years. By DAVID MORGAN “Rycharde Esteinge, a young man, being killed suddenlye with a stroke of thunder and lightning … Continue reading
Roll up! Roll up! Enjoy Croydon’s summer fayre, 1920s style
CROYDON CHRONICLES: With summer fairs being planned and organised across the borough, this week DAVID MORGAN looks back more than 100 years at the stalls and events staged for the church fête of 1921 The bunting’s up. The marquee is … Continue reading
When ‘Race Around The World’ was a tea shipper’s business
CROYDON CHRONICLES: Victorian England depended on trade with the rest of the world, and a vast fleet of merchant sailing ships operated by private businesses, often based in the City of London. As DAVID MORGAN outlines, one such company was … Continue reading
Grave error in the failure to reconstruct great Grindal’s tomb
CROYDON CHRONICLES: The Minster’s archive is a rich source of documents, registers, publications and correspondence that have yielded vast quantities of detail and information about the history of Croydon for DAVID MORGAN. But here is a letter that the archivist … Continue reading
Duke survived death after he hunted with Croydon’s hounds
CROYDON CHRONICLES: Two hundred years ago, the Derby Arms off Handcroft Road ran a well-regarded livery stables and was a centre for local hunts that were attended by princes and dukes, butchers and shop-keepers. From a single gravestone in the … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Minster, David Morgan, History
Tagged Alfred Bignell, Croydon Hunt, Croydon Minster, Croydon Parish Church, David Morgan, Duke of Cumberland, Fox-hunting, Joshua Bignell, King George II, Old Surrey Hunt, Parsons Mead, Pitlake, Rabies, The Derby Arms, The Old Surrey and Burstow Hunt:, West Croydon
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The day Dr Bookless took the wicket of the great WG Grace
CROYDON CHRONICLES: A long career in medicine based at Croydon General Hospital and on Harley Street followed for a sporting young man who, when a student at Guy’s Hospital, once enjoyed a cricket moment of a lifetime. DAVID MORGAN explains … Continue reading
Posted in Church and religions, Cricket, Croydon Minster, David Morgan, Health, History, Mayday Hospital, Purley Hospital
Tagged British Medical Journal, cricket, Croydon, Croydon General Hospital, Croydon Minster, Croydon Parish Church, Crystal Palace, Crystal Palace Park, David Morgan, Dr John Bookless, Guy's Hospital, London, London County Cricket Club, Mayday Hospital, Purley Hospital, WG Grace
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From flames to fame, Waddon’s Knox family made their mark
CROYDON CHRONICLES: From the night of the Great Fire of Croydon, DAVID MORGAN tells the story of a family of vicars and bishops, of writers and editors, and Enigma codebreakers The fire which destroyed Croydon Parish Church in 1867 had … Continue reading
Palace winger Harrison’s Match of the Day at Croydon Minster
DAVID MORGAN uses the Minster archive to trace the life and career of former Hampshire batsman and Crystal Palace winger Bernie Harrison, who played at Selhurst Park in the era when footballers earned a maximum £20 per week What was … Continue reading
The curious case of the Croydon curate and his woman stalker
CROYDON CHRONICLES: For six years at the end of the 19th Century, church services and the lives of clergymen in Croydon and in Southend were disrupted by the behaviour of one woman. DAVID MORGAN with his latest discovery from the … Continue reading
Mead’s Minster time to end after 32 years of church service
CROYDON CHRONICLES: Denise Mead became verger at Croydon Parish Church in 1993. This week, after working with three Vicars of Croydon, organising countless church events and welcoming Archbishops and a Princess Royal to Croydon, she will take her leave for … Continue reading
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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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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Former Sutton vicar to become 106th Archbishop of Canterbury
Sarah Mullally, once the country’s leading NHS nurse, later a trailblazing vicar in Sutton, has today been named as the Archbishop of Canterbury, the first woman to be appointed to the position in more than 1,400 years. “Sarah’s brilliant,” one … Continue reading
Posted in Archbishop of Canterbury, Bishop of Croydon, Church and religions, Croydon Minster, Dame Sarah Mullally, Rosemarie Mallett, Sutton Council
Tagged Archbishop of Canterbury, Bishop of Croydon, Bishop of London, Croydon Minster, Croydon Parish Church, Dame Sarah Mullally, House of Lords, Justin Welby, Rt Rev Dr Rosemarie Mallett, Sarah Mullally, St Nicholas Church
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Church Street pub where Penny performer sang of the great fire
SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: From the Victorian age of gas lamps and music halls, DAVID MORGAN traces the history of one Old Town venue that delighted audiences for a quarter of a century The fire which consumed Croydon Parish Church in January … Continue reading
The prodigy with a tin whistle who took music around the world
SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: The Shakespeare family in Croydon had multiple musical talents. From a portrait of a Victorian soprano, DAVID MORGAN traces the local connections to a small boy playing the organ at St Andrew’s and beyond in a career lasting … Continue reading
Posted in Croydon Minster, David Morgan, History, Music
Tagged Adelina Patti, Arthur Rubinstein, Croydon, Croydon Minster, Croydon Parish Church, Crystal Palace, Franz Liszt, James Sant, JB Shakespeare, Jenny Lind, Johannes Brahms, Queen Victoria, Royal Academy of Music, St Andrew's Church, St Andrews, William Shakespeare
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Shakespeares who made music part of their family business
SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: For a century and a half, one of Croydon’s best-known firms has been funeral directors J B Shakespeare. DAVID MORGAN delves into the Minster archives and sees the writing on the wall for that family’s musical role in … Continue reading
George Street family business that put Croydon in the picture
SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT: From a business begun on George Street, using pioneering photography and with paintings exhibited at the Royal Academy, John Marshall and his son, John Fitz Marshall RBA, were acclaimed artists of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. By DAVID … Continue reading
