Until the 19th century, much of Croydon was common land. This included Croydon Common which ran from what is now Cherry Orchard Road to Broad Green.
In 1796 a group of local landowners, including John Brickwood, successfully petitioned Parliament to enclose the common land, preventing others from using it to graze their cattle and gather their firewood. Find out how the rich got even richer at the expense of the poor in East Croydon in 1801
East Croydon Community Organisation 
Thanks. Very interesting.
But surely the assertion that all land between settlements belonged to nobody in Anglo-Saxon times cannot be correct? There were obviously farms, and estates go back at least as far as those associated with Roman villas.
Mike Griffiths
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That assertion came from Corbet Anderson’s book on the Croydon Enclosure, which is cited . If you can find an authoritative source that says otherwise, will be happy to amend.
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