Croydon
stood on the edge of Banstead Downs. It was a handsome market town,
ten miles from London. Of its many regular medieval fairs only two were
still held in the early nineteenth century – a fair on the feast
of St John the Baptist (the Midsummer feast), and a fair on the eve
and morrow of St Matthew. A regular Saturday market was also held during
the Regency period, which was well known for its good wheat and barley;
the fair held on St Matthew's Day was well known for its walnuts.
A
large palace or manor house near the church was for many centuries belonged
to the archbishops of Canterbury. By 1780 the palace had been empty
for 20 years. It was sold and later became the site of a calico printing
factory, its garden used as the bleaching ground. The stone and flint
Croydon church, dedicated to St John the Baptist, was renowned as one
of the most handsome churches in the country. The Fishmongers' Company
of London founded a free school in Croydon, and in the early nineteenth
century five troops of cavalry had their accommodation in newly built
barracks in the town.
