[4] Historically an ancient parish in the Wallington Hundred of Surrey, at the time of the Norman conquest of England Croydon had a church, a mill, and around 365 inhabitants, as recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086.

[14][15] It has been argued that this cultivation is likely to have taken place in the Roman period, when the saffron crocus would have been grown to supply the London market, most probably for medicinal purposes, and particularly for the treatment of granulation of the eyelids.

Its Domesday assets included 16 hides and 1 virgate of land; a church; a mill worth 5s; 38 plough-teams; 8 acres (3.2 ha) of meadow; and woodland for 200 hogs.

The Board constructed public health infrastructure including a reservoir, water supply network, sewers, a pumping station and sewage disposal works.

[49] The new county borough council implemented the Croydon Improvement scheme in the early 1890s, which widened the High Street and cleared much of the "Middle Row" slum area.

New stores opened and expanded in central Croydon, including Allders, Kennards and Grade II listed Grants, as well as the first Sainsbury's self-service shop in the country.

[56] In November 2017, Croydon Council gave permission for the new Westfield shopping centre to be built[57] and in January 2018, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, approved the regeneration scheme.

[59] There are several other major plans for the town including the redevelopment of the Croydon Gateway site; and extensions of Tramlink to Purley Way, Streatham, Lewisham and Crystal Palace.

[68] In May 2012 it was announced that Croydon had been successful in its bid to become one of twelve "Portas Pilot" towns and would receive a share of £1.2m funding to help rejuvenate its central shopping areas.

[81][82] Plans include an art gallery, a new college, shops and offices, with a multi-storey car park set for demolition to make space for 218 homes.

[83] As of 2011, Croydon's annual retail turnover from comparison goods was £353 million, the fifth-highest in Greater London behind the West End, Shepherd's Bush, Stratford and Kingston upon Thames.

Croydon had as of 2012 320,991 square metres (3,455,120 sq ft) of total town centre floorspace, the second highest in Greater London only behind the West End.

The application was initially approved, the king authorising the drafting of a charter, but the process was then abruptly halted, apparently through the intervention of Archbishop John Tillotson, who probably feared a threat to his own authority over the town.

These wards are all in the London Borough of Croydon, which is responsible for services along with other agencies such as education, refuse collection, road maintenance, local planning and social care.

To the north of Croydon are typical London districts, whereas a short distance southeast (such as Coombe and Selsdon) is green, hilly and rural land.

Dating from the late 17th or early 18th centuries, and probably built as a merchant's house, it has a distinctive "H" plan form over its four floors (including basement and attic storey).

External features include a rich red brick facade with black headers, and a heavily carved and enriched wooden eaves cornice.

Croydon Vision 2020 aims to tackle this though such solutions as making the road easier for pedestrians to cross by creating a centre island pathway.

Many famous faces have appeared at the Fairfield Halls, including the Beatles, Bucks Fizz, Omid Djalili, Robert Cray, JLS, Chuck Berry, B.

King, Don McLean, The Monkees, Johnny Cash, Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, Morecambe and Wise, Tom Jones, The Stylistics, Status Quo, Level 42, A-HA, John Mayall, Jools Holland, Kenny Rogers, James Last, and Coolio.

The Greyhound in Park Lane played host to acts such as Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, David Bowie, Queen, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Damned, The Boomtown Rats, A-ha in (1987) and others during the 1960s and '70s.

Artists such as Benga and Skream, who honed their production and DJing skills whilst working at the now defunct Big Apple Records on Surrey Street,[128] along with Norwood's Digital Mystikz, DJ Chef, Timi Korus and Thornton Heath's Plastician, form the core roster of dubstep DJs and producers.

Moreover, UK rappers and grime artists Stormzy, Krept and Konan, Nadia Rose and Section Boyz all hail from or can trace their roots to the London Borough of Croydon.

[129] The town centre was for 30 years home to Europe's largest second-hand record store, Beano's, offering rare vinyl, CDs and books.

The Delta Point building, close to West Croydon station appeared in the film The Dark Knight Rises as Gotham General Hospital.

[140][141] Croydon has its own fully independent television station: it does not receive any government or local authority grant or funding and is supported by donations, sponsorship and by commercial advertising.

[145] The Vanguard Way is an off-road walk from Croydon to Newhaven (Britain's South Coast) intersecting the London Outer Orbital Path, North Downs Way and the Pilgrims' Way.

Streatham-Croydon RFC, founded in 1871, is one of Greater London's oldest extant rugby union clubs, playing just north of the town centre at Frant Road in Thornton Heath.

[161] In 1864, the LBSCR obtained authorisation to construct a 1⁄2-mile long branch line into the heart of the town centre near Katharine Street, where Croydon Central station was built.

As aviation technology progressed and aircraft became larger and more numerous, it was recognised in 1952 that the airport would be too small to cope with increasing air traffic and its role was decreased..