Croydon

From the records: “The earliest known mention of Croydon is in a Saxon chronicle of 809, where the name is spelt Crogeden (the modern spelling did not appear until the 13th century).”

From the records: “Croydon appears in Domesday Book (1086) as Croindene, held by Archbishop Lanfranc.”

From the records: “In 1276 Archbishop Robert Kilwardby acquired a charter for a weekly market, and this probably marks the foundation of Croydon as an urban centre.”

From the records: “The will of John de Croydon, fishmonger, dated 6 December 1347, includes a bequest to "the church of S John de Croydon", the earliest clear record of its dedication.”

From the records: “Croydon had numerous inns from at least the 15th century.”

From the records: “By the 16th century the manor house had become a substantial palace, used as the main summer home of the archbishops and visited by monarchs and other dignitaries.”

From the records: “The foundation stone was laid in 1596 and the building was completed in 1599.”

From the records: “Among its notable guests was General Sir Thomas Fairfax, the Parliamentarian commander during the English Civil War, who used the inn as his headquarters while his troops were billeted in the town between 1645 and 1647.”

From the records: “However, the palace gradually became dilapidated and surrounded by slums and stagnant ponds, and in 1781 the archbishops sold it, and in its place purchased a new residence at nearby Addington.”

From the records: “The Surrey Iron Railway from Croydon to Wandsworth opened in 1803 and was an early public railway.”

From the records: “Croydon was home to the Addiscombe Military Seminary (1809–1861), at which young officers were trained for the army of the East India Company.”

From the records: “In 1831, one of England's most prominent architects, Decimus Burton, designed a spa and pleasure gardens below Beulah Hill and off what is now Spa Hill in a bowl of land on the south-facing side of the hill around a spring of chalybeate water.”

From the records: “The arrival of the railways and other communications advances in the 19th century led to a 23-fold increase in Croydon's population between 1801 and 1901.”

From the records: “Regular meetings became established first on a course at Park Hill in 1860 and from 1866 at Woodside, where particularly good prizes were offered for the races run under National Hunt rules.”

From the records: “On the night of 5 January 1867, a fire broke out – possibly caused by overheating of the poorly positioned flues of recently installed Gurney stoves – which eventually gutted the entire building.”

From the records: “In 1883 Croydon was incorporated as a borough.”

From the records: “The new, single aerodrome opened on 29 March 1920, replacing the temporary civil aerodrome at a Cavalry ground on Hounslow Heath.”

From the records: “Under the provisions of the Air Ministry (Croydon Aerodrome Extension) Act 1925, the airport was greatly enlarged between 1926 and 1928, with a new complex of buildings being constructed alongside Purley Way, including the first purpose-designed airport terminal and air traffic control tower, the world's first airport hotel, and extensive hangars.”

From the records: “Amy Johnson took off from Croydon on 5 May 1930 for her record-breaking flight to Australia.”

From the records: “When the Second World War started in September 1939, Croydon Airport was closed to civil aviation but played a vital role as a fighter station during the Battle of Britain.”

From the records: “After the war, Heathrow Airport superseded Croydon Airport as London's main airport, and Croydon Airport quickly went into a decline, finally closing in 1959.”

From the records: “Foremost is the Fairfield Halls, opened in 1962, which consists of a large concert hall frequently used for BBC recordings, the Ashcroft Theatre and the Arnhem Gallery.”

From the records: “This, coupled with national government incentives for office relocation out of Central London, led to the building of new offices and accompanying road schemes through the late 1950s and 1960s, and the town boomed as a business centre in the 1960s, with many multi-storey office blocks, an underpass, a flyover and multi-storey car parks.”

From the records: “Croydon developed as an important centre for shopping, with the construction of the Whitgift Centre in 1969.”

From the records: “The Tramlink tram system opened in 2000; Croydon is its hub.”

From the records: “When the London Borough was created in 1965, the Council endeavoured to have it styled a City, as was the City of Westminster.”

From the records: “About 60 murals were added to Croydon town centre in 2018, as part of the Rise street art festival coordinated by the Rise art gallery in Croydon.”