From 2002 to May 2018 each parliamentary constituency in Croydon was made up of exactly eight wards, all fully contained within it. Shortly after taking control in 2014 Croydon Labour requested a review of the local authority boundaries. This has resulted in each ward in the borough changing, and the size of wards become much more varied, each contraining one, two or three councillors. As a result, the wards can no longer fit neatly into the three parliamentary constituencies and a number now appear in two parliamentary constituences.
Croydon South covers the south-western part of the London Borough of Croydon.
Croydon South has a proud history and vital connection to the Conservative Party. The Selsdon Group was created in 1973 by a group of young libertarian Conservatives, with David Alexander as first chairman and Nicholas Ridley as first president, in order to promote free-market economic policies. This followed a conference held in January 1970 by Edward Heath and his shadow cabinet at the Selsdon Park Hotel in Selsdon, with the purpose of generating fresh policy ideas. The result of the 1970 discussions was a radical free-market agenda, ridiculed by the then Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson as the work of "Selsdon Man". Wilson lost the subsequent general election to Heath. Many of its policies, however, influenced later governments led by Margaret Thatcher and John Major.
Croham Hurst, a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest, is also in the constituency. Its human occupation goes back thousands of years. In 1968 two hut sites were discovered with low turf walls, which were part of a Mesolithic settlement around 5,000 to 3,000 years BC. Neolithic flint tools show that settlement continued into the later Stone Age. There is also a Bronze Age round barrow, which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, with a plaque marking the site.
Sanderstead Plantation, in Sanderstead Ward, is an area of woodland that includes the second-highest point in London. In the village of Sanderstead there is evidence of prehistoric human activity in and around Sanderstead. In 1958–60 the Sanderstead Archaeological Group excavated in the vicinity of Sanderstead pond and revealed the presence of man as far back as the Mesolithic Period nearly 12,000 years ago, as well as pottery fragments dated between 100 AD and 1300 AD and a bronze belt from the end of the Saxon era. Sanderstead appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Sandestede, and belonging to St Peter's Abbey, Winchester. It had a noted population (probably of just the adult males) of 26 including 21 villagers, 4 slaves and 1 cottager. Its Domesday assets were assessed as 5 hides, and 10 carucates of arable land. It had 9 ploughs and wood worth 30 hogs.
St Mary's Church in Addington Village has 5 Archbishops of Canterbury buried in its grounds.
The Archbishops interred at St Mary's are:
- Archbishop Charles Manners-Sutton – Died 1828 (buried in a vault under the vestry).
- Archbishop William Howley – died 1848 (buried in the chancel).
- Archbishop John Bird Sumner – died 1862 (buried in the churchyard).
- Archbishop Charles Longley – died 1868 (buried in the churchyard).
- Archbishop Archibald Campbell Tait – died 1882 (buried in the churchyard).
In 1974 the current fresh seat of Croydon South was created to the south predominantly from East Surrey rather than from the historic Croydon South
