Little Ilford is a district of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, 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 ...

. It gives its name to the Little Ilford ward.

Toponymy

Little Ilford and

Ilford Ilford is a large List of areas of London, town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a po ...

(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 boroughs, 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 t ...

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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

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.

History

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Little Ilford became part of the West Ham Poor Law Union in 1836. Parishes that had not adopted the

Public Health Act Public Health Act is a stock short title used in the United Kingdom for legislation relating to public health. List *The Public Health Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. 63) *The Sanitary Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. 90) is sometimes called the Public Healt ...

s became part of rural sanitary authorities along the lines of the

poor law union A poor law union was a geographical territory, and early local government unit, in Great Britain and Ireland. Poor law unions existed in England and Wales from 1834 to 1930 for the administration of poor relief. Prior to the Poor Law Amendment ...

s of which they formed part. Therefore, it became part of the West Ham Rural Sanitary District. Neighbouring East Ham had adopted the

Local Government Act 1858 A local board of health (or simply a ''local board'') was a local authority in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulat ...

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. 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.

Geography

Little Ilford is divided from Ilford 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. It runs from Chiswick in the west to North Woolwich in the east via suburban north London, connecting var ...

, the Alders Brook and the

River Roding The River Roding () is a river that 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 ...

, and connected by the A118 road. Little Ilford is sometimes referred to as being part of Manor Park due to historic links.'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

Education

There is a large comprehensive school in the area called Little Ilford School.

Connections

London bus route 147 serves the neighbourhood. The nearest railway station is Manor Park, an

Elizabeth line The Elizabeth line is a railway line that runs across Greater London and nearby towns, operating similarly to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries. It runs services on dedicated infras ...

station in zones 3/4.

References

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