User:Philredpath/BANGHOLE

Banghole Banghole; Bang-hole is usually pronounced Bangole, with the h of the word hole being dropped. It refers to a poor district of Croydon in Surrey, which became Croydon in Greater London from the early 1970s. The core streets were Wilford Road and Forster Road, where the poor of Croydon could rent a house, or more usually one floor of a house, or just a room - many families had only a single room to themselves. In the 1850s to the Second World War it was the base for the totters or rag-and-bone men of Croydon - also market traders from Surrey Street and street flower sellers who sold there wares from large hand baskets or shalleys - if they stopped to rest their baskets for more than a few seconds, they were liable to arrest. It was conflict with the law that led to the name of this district. It is said that on one particular day a local Magistrate had been dealing with a stream of cases from Forster Road and Wilford Road when yet another case came up before him. It is said that he proclaimed that of all the troublesome districts in Croydon, this would Bang All of Them - and so Bang-All became Bang-Hole which then became Bang-Ole. People from more prosperous parts of town would spread stories about Bangole residents keeping their ponies or donkeys in the house - this was due to the sight of a pony or donkey being led through the front door - but many houses had no rear access to their back yard and so the animal was just being taken through the passage way from front door to the back door in order to reach the rear of the property.'