For centuries a small but important market town, in open countryside and well separated from London, Croydon was the principal town in East Surrey ... not least because its markets and fairs were granted by the archbishops of Canterbury, who were the lords of the manor. Their ‘near London’ residence was there and by the 17th century their manor had become Croydon Palace. Enclosure of the commons paved the way for development and the town began to expand. Railways, made the place an ideal residential area for Londoners. This remarkable book tells the entire story of what is now the sixth largest commercial centre in the country.