This area incorporates much of the neighbourhood of South Croydon, a semi- circle slice of Purley. The area extends westwards to Purley Way Playing Fields and Roundshaw Open Space; and is bordered to its north by Croydon High Street. The eastern residential area is bounded by the Southern railway line from Croydon, and the neighbourhood also contains a few parks, such as Haling Grove and South Croydon Recreation Ground, as well as several schools – Whitgift School and Harris Academy Purley being the most prominent. The locale centres on Brighton Road, which is the high street for the area. The road leads down to Purley town centre to the south. Three stations serve the area – South Croydon to the northeast and Purley Oaks and Sanderstead to the southwest.

Whitgift School is one of Croydon’s oldest buildings, and certainly its oldest school, having been founded in 1596 by Elizabeth I’s last Archbishop of Canterbury. The area’s other school, Purley Oaks, was originally called Brighton Road School, and was built back in 1873, when the area was still largely grazing lands and barns.

St. Gertrude’s Church near the high street is descended from another church – All Saints’ Church, which has stood in the area for over seven hundred years, dominating the landscape and acting as a focal point for the local community. The current church building was refurbished in 1903.

Lord Howard of Effingham lived on the plot of what is today Whitgift School. He was the Lord High Admiral of the fleet sent against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He is credited as being the chief individual responsible for the victory that saved England from the Spanish invasion, and was played by John Shrapnel in the 2007 movie Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

The town was also home to Joachim von Ribbentrop, who was an ambassador of Germany to the UK before the Second World War – he became Nazi Germany’s Foreign Minister in 1938. Poetically, many years later, a Jewish family, many of their relatives of which were murdered in the Holocaust, would move into the house he built.

Purley has had several references and appearances in pop culture, such as in the sitcom Terry and June, as well as in several ‘And Now for Something Completely Different’ sketches by Monty Python – in particular, the Kilimanjaro Expedition sketch.

Perhaps due to von Ribbentrop’s association to the town, this area was never bombed during the war, ensuring that the many historical sites of the area remain intact and complete today.

Coinciding with Croydon being crowned the 2023 London Borough of Culture, there’s been lots of movement to develop the area. As recently as 2020, planning consent was granted for a total 11,354 sq.m redevelopment of the nearby Purley town centre. The Proctor and Matthews-led masterplan will consist of a host of new community, civic and religious space, as well as cafes, retail and education facilities. There will also be a 500 seater auditorium and 220 new homes built, hoping to house 600 new residents. A number of new luxury apartments are in the process of being built around the golf course too on Croham Valley Road, as well as a proposed 79 brand new flats on Brighton Road.