Editing Carshalton (section)

=== Lavender Fields ===
[[File:Lavender Field Sutton.jpg|thumb|[[Lavender]] field in the south of Carshalton]]

There are two historic lavender fields. One, at Oaks Way, Carshalton Beeches is a not-for-profit community project that manages three acres of lavender. The other, a 25-acre commercial site in Croydon Lane called Mayfield, is popular with tourists. It is located just within the Carshalton South and Clockhouse ward within the London Borough of Sutton.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mapit.mysociety.org/area/8459.html|title=Carshalton South and Clockhouse - MapIt|website=mapit.mysociety.org}}</ref> This area was once famous as the "Lavender Capital of the World". From the 18th to the early 20th centuries the North Downs of Surrey, with its chalky free-draining soil, ideal for lavender growing, were at the centre of worldwide production of lavender. It was a very prosperous part of the local agriculture. Blue fields could be seen all over Mitcham, Croydon, Wallington, Banstead, Carshalton and Sutton.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mayfieldlavender.com/lavender-revival/|title=Mayfield Lavender|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080530101538/http://www.mayfieldlavender.com/lavender-revival/|archive-date=30 May 2008}}</ref> The scale of the operation can be understood from the fact that the ''Daily News'' in 1914 was able to state:

{{cquote|At Carshalton Beeches in every direction the low hill sides of the farm beyond Beeches Halt are swept with the bloomy pastel tint of the lavender flowers.}}