Purley is an area of the London Borough of Croydon in London, England, 11.7 miles (18.8 km) south of Charing Cross, with a history going back at least 800 years. It was originally granted as an estate from holdings at Sanderstead and until as a district of Surrey and then, with neighbouring Coulsdon, as an urban district that became an electoral ward of the London Borough of Croydon, becoming part of the ceremonial county of London, in 1965. In 2018 the Purley ward was divided into two: Purley and Woodcote, and Purley Oaks and Riddlesdown.
Purley is a suburban area of South London, and the quintessential suburban environment has been referenced in fictional and popular culture, most notably as the setting for the long running Terry and June sitcom.
Purley had a population of 15,184 in 2022.
History
Toponymy
The name derives from an estate, mentioned in about 1200 when it was deeded to one William de Pirelea, son of Osbert de Pirelea by the abbot of St. Peter's monastery near Winchester.[1] The original meaning of Purley was probably a wood or clearing where pear trees grow,[2] derived from "Pirlea", which is from Anglo Saxon pir, pear or pirige, pear tree and leá, a clearing or a place.[3]
The urban district council was based in a colonial-style building opened in 1930. The building, on the A23 Brighton Road near Reedham Station, became the property of the London Borough of Croydon and was sold to developers. It was left derelict for many years but was converted into flats in 2012. Plans to dig under the building and build additional flats were refused in 2015.[6]
The former Purley Council Offices on Brighton Road, Purley. Now a residential development.
Purley grew rapidly in the 1920s and 1930s, providing spacious homes in a green environment. Northeast Purley stretches into the chalk hill spurs of the North Downs.
One road, Promenade de Verdun, created by William Webb, has a distinction all of its own. It is 600 yards (550 m) long and has on one side Lombardy poplars planted in local soil mixed with French earth specially shipped over to the UK. A plaque at one end of the road explains that the French ministry of the interior donated the soil from Armentières, as a memorial to the alliance of World War One and the soldiers who died. At the other end stands an obelisk carved from a single piece of stone with the inscription "Aux soldats de France morts glorieusement pendant la Grande Guerre".[9]
The 32nd Surrey Battalion of the Home Guard was known as the Factory Battalion, and had the specific task of guarding the Purley Way factories: its units were mainly based on staff from the individual firms. The factories adjoining Croydon Airport took the worst of the air raid of 15 August 1940: the British NSF factory was almost entirely destroyed, and the Bourjois factory gutted, with a total of over sixty civilian deaths.[10]
A comprehensive history of Purley and its growth around Caterham Junction (now Purley Station) with the coming of the railways some 150 years ago is found in the Bourne Society's 'Purley Village History' and in its Local History Records publications.[citation needed]
Webb Estate
An entrance to the estate
The Webb Estate is a gated community with around 220 homes.[11] It began as 260 acres of farmland before being purchased in the 1880s and transformed into Edwardian homes and landscaped gardens by estate agent William Webb.
Known for having a "garden village" feel with a high level of privacy, it also includes two private schools plus a restaurant and deli.[11]
The estate made headlines in a 2002 survey, which found that it had over the years attracted the highest-earning residents in the UK, having established itself as an attractive destination for wealthy city workers.[12]
The Purley postal district encompasses Purley high street and extends through Woodcote to the West, includes the Peaks Hill area to the North, and borders Purley Oaks in South Croydon. To the East it includes Riddlesdown and to the South it borders Kenley and Coulsdon.[13] The current electoral ward of Purley and Woodcote is largely co-extensive with the postal district,[14] but Riddlesdown is now in the neighbouring Purley Oaks and Riddlesdown ward.[15]
Woodcote Village Green
Woodcote is contained within Purley. Developed in the early 20th century, it is centred on Woodcote Village Green and is the location of Woodcote Model Village.[16] Purley's Webb Estate lies on Woodcote road, close to Upper Woodcote Village.[17]
The Bourne river runs through Purley. The river is culverted but can flood in Purley valley. A local history society take their name from this river.[18]
Education
Peaks Hill
Purley is home to a number of schools;[19] including four Catholic schools. Two of which are in Peaks Hill neighbourhood of Purley, and these are The John Fisher School an all boys' state school (formerly an independent and then a voluntary aided state school),[20] and Laleham Lea School a co-educational prep-school.[citation needed]
Purley has one of the UK's longest-established language schools, Purley Language College, founded in 1928.[21]
Purley used to have many different kinds of shops such as greengrocers, butchers, toy shops, tobacconists, a restaurant and a cinema. There was an earlier Sainsbury's store that closed in the 1980s, when a new Sainsbury's was opened at Purley Fountain.[22] The new Sainsbury's closed in 2001.[23] A Tesco superstore was opened in 1991, and there has been a shift in the town's retail offering towards charity shops, restaurants and non retail businesses.[24]
Purley retail and commerce interests are represented by the Purley Business improvement district. This Business Improvement District (BID) is in the second 5-year term having successfully been voted in favour in 2015 and 2020.[25]
The island opposite Purley Baptist Church has been refurbished and the Church, under the banner of 58:12[26] (a company and charity set up by the Church) are planning to redevelop it. Other partners in the development of a strategy for the regeneration of central Purley include the Purely Business improvement district, the Purley & Woodcote Residents' Association and Purley Rotary who actively participate in the Neighbourhood Partnership forums hosted by Croydon Council.[citation needed]
Demography
As of 2022, the largest ethnic group in Purley & Woodcote was ‘White’, constituting 56.97% of the total population. The ‘Asian’ ethnic group was second largest, making up 20.13%, while ‘Black, Caribbean or African’ accounted for 11.73% of the population. Mixed/multiple ethnicities made up 7.5%. 'Other ethnic groups' account for 3% of the population. The smallest ethnic group was 'Arab', making up only 0.6% of the wards population.
71.4% of the wards population were born in the UK. The remaining 28.6% were from overseas, with the largest amount being listed as from 'The Middle East & Asia'.
The largest religion was listed as Christianity, at 51.3%. The second largest religion was Islam, at 9.5%. Third was Hinduism, at 8.2%. Following that were Sikhism at 1%, Buddhism at 0.9%, Judaism at 0.2% and 'Other Religion' at 0.8%. As well as this, 'No Religion' accounted for 28% of the population.
On television the town became known in the sitcom Terry and June, in which Terry and June Medford (Terry Scott and June Whitfield), had moved after the characters' previous series, Happy Ever After. The sitcom was set on the cusp of Purley and Wallington (on Church Road in a house within sight of St Mark's Church) and the opening credits featured them searching for each other around the (now unrecognisable) Whitgift Centre – a shopping precinct in Croydon.[42]
Francis Rossi, lead singer of Status Quo, lives in the Webb Estate in Purley.[62]
John Horne Tooke, an English politician and philologist, lived in Purley at the end of the 18th century where he began writing Epea Pteroenta, Or, The Diversions of Purley.[64]
^Birch, Walter de Gray (1887). Domesday Book: A Popular Account of the Exchequer Manuscript So Called, with Notices of the Principal Points of General Interest which it Contains. Society for promoting Christian knowledge. p. 232. Another example of the late use of the term hida is that afforded by the Ad. Ch. 24,613 in the British Museum collection. In this deed John, abbot of St. Peter's monastery at Hyde, or Newminster, outside the city of Winchester, confirms a grant to William de Pirelea, son of Osbert de Pirelea, of "dimidiam hidam terre in Sandestuda," or Sanderstead, co. Surrey. The date is about A.D. 1200.
^"Promenade de Verdun history"(PDF). croydon.gov.uk. London Borough of Croydon. Archived(PDF) from the original on 14 April 2018. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
^Brayley, Edward Wedlake (1844). The History of Surrey. R.B. Ede. p. 43. Retrieved 11 September 2022. Purley House, on this estate, was formerly the property and residence of the late John Horne Tooke, esq.; whose celebrated philological work inituled, "Epea Pteroenta, or the Diversions of Purley," was written here, and first published, in octavo, in 1786.
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