The London Borough of Croydon is a London borough in south London, part of Outer London. It covers an area of 87 km2 (33.6 sq mi). It is the southernmost borough of London. At its centre is the historic town of Croydon from which the borough takes its name; while other urban centres include Coulsdon, Purley, South Norwood, Norbury, New Addington, Selsdon and Thornton Heath. Croydon is mentioned in Domesday Book, and from a small market town has expanded into one of the most populous areas on the fringe of London. The borough is now one of London's leading business, financial and cultural centres, and its influence in entertainment and the arts contribute to its status as a major metropolitan centre. Its population is 390,719, making it the most populous London borough and sixteenth largest English district.
Coulsdon is a town in south London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon. Coulsdon was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey that included the settlements of Purley and Kenley. It was merged with Sanderstead in 1915 to form the Coulsdon and Purley Urban District and has formed part of Greater London since 1965.
Reigate and Banstead is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Reigate and the borough also includes the towns of Banstead, Horley and Redhill. Parts of the borough are within the Surrey Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Northern parts of the borough, including Banstead, lie inside the M25 motorway which encircles London.
The A23 road is a major road in the United Kingdom between London and Brighton, East Sussex, England. It is managed by Transport for London for the section inside the Greater London boundary, Surrey County Council and West Sussex County Council for the section shadowed by the M23 motorway, National Highways between the M23 and Patcham, and by Brighton and Hove Council from the A27 to the centre of Brighton.
Redhill is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead within the county of Surrey, England. The town, which adjoins the town of Reigate to the west, is due south of Croydon in Greater London, and is part of the London commuter belt. The town is also the post town, entertainment and commercial area of three adjoining communities : Merstham, Earlswood and Whitebushes, as well as of two small rural villages to the east in the Tandridge District, Bletchingley and Nutfield.
The Surrey Iron Railway (SIR) was a horse-drawn narrow-gauge plateway that linked Wandsworth and Croydon via Mitcham, all then in Surrey but now suburbs of south London, in England. It was established by Act of Parliament in 1801, and opened partly in 1802 and partly in 1803. It was a toll railway on which carriers used horse traction. The chief goods transported were coal, building materials, lime, manure, corn and seeds. The first 8.25 miles (13.28 km) to Croydon opened on 26 July 1803, with a branch line off from Mitcham to Hackbridge.
Kenley is a residential suburb within the London Borough of Croydon. It is located 13 miles (21 km) south of Charing Cross and within the southern boundary of London, England. Surrounded by the Metropolitan Green Belt on three sides, it includes the large open spaces of Kenley Common and Kenley Aerodrome. Kenley was part of the ancient parish of Coulsdon in the county of Surrey and was connected to central London by rail in 1856. As the population of the area was growing, it became part of Coulsdon and Purley Urban District in 1915 and has formed part of Greater London since 1965. At the 2011 Census, Kenley had a population of 14,966.
Merstham is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It lies 17 miles south of Charing Cross just beyond the Greater London border. Part of the North Downs Way runs along the northern boundary of the town. Merstham has community associations, an early medieval church and a football club.
East Surrey is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Claire Coutinho, a Conservative who formerly served as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. The seat covers an affluent area in the English county of Surrey.
Banstead is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It is 3 miles (5 km) south of Sutton, 5 miles (8 km) south-west of Croydon, 8 miles (13 km) south-east of Kingston-upon-Thames, and 13 miles (21 km) south of Central London.
Coulsdon and Purley Urban District was a local government district in northeast Surrey from 1915 to 1965. The local authority was Coulsdon and Purley Urban District Council. The former area of the district is now mostly part of the London Borough of Croydon in Greater London, with parts in the Tandridge District and the Borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey.
Earlswood is a suburb of Redhill in Surrey, England, which lies on the A23 between Redhill and Horley. Earlswood Common is a local nature reserve that separates the suburb from the southern outskirts of Reigate and has two lakes and picnic areas. Earlswood station is on the Brighton Main Line. To the east of the line are Royal Earlswood Park, the East Surrey Hospital and Whitebushes.
Meadvale or less commonly Mead Vale is a southern residential suburb that straddles borders of Redhill and Reigate in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, and one of two which do so. The average elevation of the district is higher than the centres of each of the towns – Meadvale is bisected east-west by the Greensand Way at the top of a moderately low section of the Greensand Ridge. Its population, as broadly defined on its ward definition, is 3,090 spread over 64 hectares based upon the most recent national census.
The London Government Act 1963 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which created Greater London and a new local government structure within it. The Act significantly reduced the number of local government districts in the area, resulting in local authorities responsible for larger areas and populations. The upper tier of local government was reformed to cover the whole of the Greater London area and with a more strategic role; and the split of functions between upper and lower tiers was recast. The Act classified the boroughs into inner and outer London groups. The City of London and its corporation were essentially unreformed by the legislation. Subsequent amendments to the Act have significantly amended the upper tier arrangements, with the Greater London Council abolished in 1986, and the Greater London Authority introduced in 2000. As of 2024, the London boroughs are more or less identical to those created in 1965, although with some enhanced powers over services such as waste management and education.
Kingswood or Kingswood with Burgh Heath is a residential area on the North Downs in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. Part of the London commuter belt, Kingswood is just to the east of the A217 separating it from Tadworth and has a railway station. Burgh Heath in its north is combined with it to form a ward. Reigate is 3.6 miles (5.8 km) south of its centre and London is 15.5 miles (24.9 km) to the north northeast. Kingswood with Burgh Heath had a population of 6,891 in 2011.
Chipstead is a predominantly commuter village in the Reigate and Banstead district, in north-east Surrey, England, that has been a small ecclesiastical parish since the Domesday Survey of 1086. Its rolling landscape meant that Chipstead's development was late and restricted compared to parishes of comparable distance from London. Formerly and formally including Hooley and Netherne-on-the-Hill, on census day, 1831 Chipstead had 66 homes. Today, excluding those two parts, the village has 1,212 homes spread across the slopes and crests of a northern section of the North Downs. Parts of the village are in or adjoin the Surrey Hills AONB.
Woodmansterne is a village in the borough of Reigate and Banstead, Surrey, bordering Greater London, England. It sits on a small plateau of and a southern down slope of the North Downs and its ecclesiastical parish borders continue to span old boundaries and reach into Chipstead, Coulsdon and Wallington.
Reigate was a hundred in the historic county of Surrey, England. It was geographically consonant with the southern two thirds of the current Borough of Reigate and Banstead together with two parishes in Tandridge and fractions of former parishes in the London Borough of Croydon and Borough of Crawley, West Sussex. Accordingly, it included the medieval-established town of Reigate with its motte castle and land which became the towns of Redhill and Horley.
Netherne-on-the-Hill is a village in Surrey, England, occupying a plateau once home to Netherne Hospital. The village is across a narrow valley from Hooley in north of the borough of Reigate and Banstead; through the valley runs the Hooley Tunnel cutting and A23, the only road from which the village can be accessed, from two designated side roads; a few metres south of the southern T-junction, the road divides into two grades: the A23 to Redhill, 3 miles (4.8 km) south, and the M23 motorway which has a junction with the M25 motorway within Merstham's boundaries, the former village of the hilltop land. The post town, Coulsdon in Greater London is centred 1.8 miles (2.9 km) due north.
