Little London is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

consisting of approximately 70 houses located immediately east of the village of Oakley in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

and about northwest of the

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

Thame Thame is a market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about east of the city of Oxford and southwest of Aylesbury. It derives its name from the River Thame which flows along the north side of the town and forms part of the county border wi ...

in neighbouring

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

. Little London Green is the largest area of

common land Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect Wood fuel, wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

in the parish of Oakley.

History

The earliest known records of Little London are from the 16th century. Little London is clearly visible on the

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

map of

Bernwood Forest Bernwood Forest was one of several forests of the ancient Kingdom of England and was a Royal hunting forest. It is thought to have been set aside as Royal hunting land when the Anglo-Saxon kings had a palace at Brill and church in Oakley, in th ...

of 1590. Originally the boundary between

Brill Brill may refer to: Places * Brielle (sometimes "Den Briel"), a town in the western Netherlands * Brill, Buckinghamshire, a village in England * Brill, Cornwall, a small village to the west of Constantine, Cornwall, UK * Brill, Wisconsin, an un ...

and Oakley followed the stream in Oakley, meaning that Oakley parish church, 'the Nap' and 'Little London Green' would have been in Little London. Little London has several 17th-century cottages. A Congregational chapel was built there in 1847. In 1934 Buckinghamshire County Council revised parish council boundaries and made Little London part of Oakley. Until the 1960s the hamlet had its own shop.

Toponymy

The

Toponymy Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

(naming) of Little London is not clear. Some locals thought it was founded during the

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

in the 14th century by Londoners fleeing the capital. The fact that the hamlet is one field distant from the rest of Oakley may support this theory. Little London may have been established by Welsh

cattle drovers Droving is the practice of walking livestock over long distances. It is a type of herding. Droving stock to market—usually on foot and often with the aid of dogs—has a very long history in the Old World. An owner might entrust an agent to deli ...

. Cattle drovers established at least 70 communities established in England and Wales, many of which still exist. They were temporary homes for long distance drovers, driving their cattle to the great fairs and markets of London and other centres in England. They were on common land, separated from local communities. The drovers had a licence to travel, granted by

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

, and were regarded as "foreigners" by the local parishioners who could not travel without a "settlement certificate". One of the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

words for "foreigners" was ''utlenden'' ("outlanders"), which could be corrupted to "Little London".

References

Sources

* {{Aylesbury Vale Hamlets in Buckinghamshire