Museum of Croydon
Croydon’s people, places and work lives told through donated objects and oral histories, with a shift upstairs to the Riesco Gallery’s Chinese ceramics and local archaeology. Small, focused displays reward close reading over spectacle.
Opening Hours
What's not to miss inside?
Croydon Now
People-centred social historyUniforms, shop signs, flyers and family keepsakes show how migration, music and retail shaped the borough.
📍 Core gallery
Wartime Croydon
Home-front realitiesAir-raid shelter set-pieces, an ‘unexploded bomb’ story and photos connect everyday streets to the Blitz.
📍 Main trail mid-section
Riesco Gallery
Global ceramics in a local museumCeladons, blue-and-white and figural wares trace a millennium of Chinese ceramic innovation alongside Roman and Anglo-Saxon finds from the area.
📍 Upper level
Design & Industry (rotating)
How Croydon makes and remakes itselfShows like “FORGE: Industries of Croydon” pair archive and contemporary images to map factories, offices and retail parks over time.
📍 Temporary gallery
Inspire your Friends
- The Riesco Collection spans roughly a thousand years of Chinese ceramics—from Tang to Qing dynasties.
- A 1950s–60s ‘bubble car’ on display captures post-war urban mobility in miniature.
- Local archaeology exhibits include Roman and Anglo-Saxon material, placing Croydon in much older settlement networks.
