CROYDON, a town, parish, and district of England in the north-east of the county of Surrey, nine miles south of London, with stations on several lines of railway. It stands near the sources of the River Wandle, under Banstead Downs, and is a place of great antiquity. The original site, further west than the present town, is supposed to have been that of the Noviomagus of the Antonine Itinerary, and it is the Croindone (French, croie dune, chalk-hill) of the Domesday Book. In the neighbourhood there are distinct traces of Roman occupation, and several gold coins bearing the stamp of the later emperors have been found. A cluster of twenty-five tumuli between the town and Addington Park, and a circular encampment with a double moat, form the most interesting portion of the remains. The manor of Croydon was presented by William the Conqueror to Archbishop Lanfranc, who is believed to have founded the archiépiscopal palace there, which was the occasional residence of his successors till about 1750, and of which the chapel and hall still remain. The newer town of Croydon consists principally of a well built street extend* ing along the high road to Brighton with branch streets. The principal buildings are the parish church, close to the palace, a large and handsome structure in perpendicular style, with an ancient flint and stone tower; several newer churches; the town hall, a semi-classical edifice built in 1809; a public hall built in 1862, and the market-house, water-works, and prison. Considerable weekly corn and cattle markets are the chief business of the town. The summer assizes for Surrey are held alternately there and at Guildford. Its site is remarkable for the number of springs which issue from the soil. One of these, called the ii Bourne,” bursts forth a short ...