Croydon

Croydon is a substantial town in south London, England, 9.5 miles south of Charing Cross. The essential settlement in the London Borough of Croydon, it is one of the biggest business regions outside Central London, with a broad shopping region and evening time economy. Generally part of the hundred of Wallington in the area of Surrey, at the season of the Norman victory of England Croydon had a congregation, a factory, and around 365 occupants, as recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086.

Croydon extended in the Middle Ages as a market town and an inside for charcoal creation, calfskin tanning and fermenting. The Surrey Iron Railway from Croydon to Wandsworth opened in 1803 and was the world's first open railroad. Later 19th century railroad building encouraged Croydon's development as a worker town for London.

By the mid 20th century, Croydon was an imperative mechanical zone, known for auto fabricate, metal working and Croydon Airport. In the mid 20th century these parts were supplanted by retailing and the administration economy, realized by gigantic redevelopment which saw the ascent of office squares and the Whitgift Center, the biggest mall in London until 2008. Croydon was amalgamated into Greater London in 1965.