Little Ilford is a district of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England in the

London Borough of Newham The London Borough of Newham is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by the s ...

and the name of a ward in that borough. Little Ilford is now usually referred to as Manor Park.'Little Ilford', in A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6, ed. W R Powell (London, 1973), pp. 163-174. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/essex/vol6/pp163-174 ccessed 2 October 2020

History

Toponymy

Little Ilford and Ilford (historically known as Great Ilford)Mills, A., ''Oxford Dictionary of London Place Names'', (2001) in the

London Borough of Redbridge The London Borough of Redbridge is a London borough established in 1965. The borough shares boundaries with the Epping Forest District and the ceremonial county of Essex to the north, with the London Borough of Waltham Forest to the west, the ...

have a common etymology. The name is first recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086 as ''Ilefort'' and applied means ''ford over the Hyle''; an old name for the River Roding that means "trickling stream". Great and Little Ilford appear to have always been distinct areas separated by the Roding. The place names of both appear to derive from the ford (and river), rather than deriving from the subdivision of a larger Ilford area.

Parish and manor

The Manor of Little Ilford is mentioned (as simply Ilford) in the Domesday Book of 1086, and recorded as being held by one Jocelyn the Lorimer. Domesday also records that the manor was held by two freemen prior to the Norman Conquest. Great Ilford was not mentioned at Domesday as it was part of the Manor of Barking. Little Ilford became an

ancient parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority. ...

centred on St Mary's Church on Church Street, by the late 12th century - the parish organisation of England was completed at that time and sub-divisions and boundary changes were rare. Little Ilford may have been an exception to the rule in that it ''may'' have extended northward in the 16th century. The

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

of Little Ilford became part of the

West Ham Poor Law Union West Ham Poor Law Union was a poor law union established on 31 May 1836. It initially covered the parishes of East Ham, Leyton, Little Ilford, Walthamstow, Wanstead, West Ham and Woodford, with the addition of Cann Hall from 1894 onwards. Th ...

in 1836. Parishes that had not adopted the Public Health Acts became part of rural sanitary authorities along the lines of the poor law unions they were part of. Therefore it became part of the West Ham Rural Sanitary District. Neighbouring East Ham had adopted the Local Government Act 1858 and formed a local government district in 1878, governed by a local board of nine members that became the urban sanitary authority. In 1886 the East Ham local government district was extended to include the civil parish of Little Ilford, and the board was increased to twelve members. In 1894 the local government district became

East Ham Urban District East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sunrise, Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from ...

. Little Ilford was abolished as a civil parish in 1900 and absorbed into the parish of East Ham. East Ham went on to form a municipal borough in 1904 and became a county borough in 1915.Vision of Britain
East Ham CB

historic map
) The area remained an ecclesiastical parish until 1938.

Locale

Ilford and Little Ilford are divided from each other by the

North Circular Road The North Circular Road (officially the A406 and sometimes known as simply the North Circular) is a ring road around Central London in England. It runs from Chiswick in the west to Woolwich in the east via suburban North London, connecting ...

, the

Alders Brook The Alders Brook is a small tributary of the River Roding. The name derives from Middle English meaning "brook where alders grow" and is first recorded in 1535; previously it was the site of a farmstead known as ''Nakethalle'' or ''Nagethalle'', ...

and the

River Roding The River Roding () rises at Molehill Green, Essex, England, then flows south through Essex and London and forms Barking Creek as it reaches the River Thames. Course The river leaves Molehill Green and passes through or near a group of eight ...

, and connected by the

A118 road The A118 is a road in east London, England which links Bow Interchange with Gallows Corner in Romford via Stratford and Ilford. The section from Bow Interchange to Gallows Corner formed the original route of the A12 until the designation ...

. There is a large comprehensive school in the area called

Little Ilford School Little Ilford School is a coeducational secondary school located in Little Ilford in the London Borough of Newham in London, United Kingdom. It enrolled 1434 students and has been described by Ofsted as outstanding in their last inspection in ...

. Little Ilford is served by Church Road which contains a variety of shops, food outlets and a cab office. St Stephens Church is located within the boundary of little Ilford. Transport links include the 147 bus route from

Canning Town Canning Town is a district in the London Borough of Newham, East London. The district is located to the north of the Royal Victoria Dock, and has been described as the "Child of the Victoria Docks" as the timing and nature of its urbanisation ...

to Ilford.

References

{{LB Newham Districts of the London Borough of Newham Areas of London Former civil parishes in London