Facts about Croydon
Croydon History
As the vast majority of place names in the area are of Anglo-Saxon origin. The theory accepted by most philologists is that the name Croydon derives originally from the Anglo-Saxon croh, meaning “crocus”, and denu, “valley”. Indicating that, like Saffron Walden in Essex, it was a centre for the cultivation of saffron. 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. Alternative, although less probable, theories of the name’s origin have been proposed. According to John Corbet Anderson: “The earliest mention of Croydon is in the joint will of Beorhtric and Aelfswth, dated about the year 962.
General Info
Croydon is a large town in south London, England. It is 9.4 miles south of Charing Cross. The principal settlement in the London Borough of Croydon, it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London outside Central London, with an extensive shopping district and the night-time economy.
Historically part of the hundred of Wallington in the county 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. Croydon expanded in the Middle Ages as a market town and a centre for charcoal production, leather tanning and brewing.
