Little London Calling!

 

Little London off Church Street, Bentley 1931

Uncovering the Hidden History of Little London

About a year ago I was asked to look into the history of a mysterious part of Bentley known as 'Little London'. Probably only remembered today by Bentley's older residents, this tiny corner of Bentley now long gone was home to countless families over the time it existed. So, before it slips out of memory completely, here is what I managed to find out about the area and the people who lived there.

Contents

• Finding Little London 
• The Name 'Little London'
• Dating Little London and Piccadilly
• The Houses
• Residents
• Lifestyles
• Length of Residencies
• The Francois Cementation Company
• Expansion
• The Demise of Little London
• Further Expansion
• The Move to Housing
• Skanska
• Piccadilly

Finding Little London

If you wanted to find the site of Little London today you would need to enter the new housing estate of Westongales Way, off Jossey Lane and make your way to the western most point, where the road runs north to south ending in a cul-de-sac at each end. The map below shows its rough location.

Little London location shown in the red box

This wider map of Bentley in 1893 probably better illustrates the location of Little London.

Bentley 1893 with Little London ringed in red

We know where Little London was because many old OS maps have the location marked, and you can even see the arrangement of the houses, as in this map of 1850 below. 

Little London 1850

If we zoom in on this map (below), we can see three blocks, or terraces of houses at the top end marked in bold cross hatching. There then seems to be two rows of allotments either side of a track, where presumably the residents grew their vegetables. The track then turns in a dog-leg, passing more houses, before emerging on to Church Street. The little cluster of houses at this junction were called 'Piccadilly', and there is still a road there today with the same name, which ends in a cul-de-sac.

Little London houses and Piccadilly in 1850

The Name 'Little London'

So where does the name Little London come from? Well, I found nothing definitive, but it does seem that there are a few Little London's dotted around the country and these hamlets often date back to before the 17th century. They may connect to the droving trade which supplied Royal households and lands at the time, hence the London connection. Interestingly, Piccadilly is another name associated with these drovers' roads, which might explain why there is also a Piccadilly in Bentley. With the main London to York road laying close to Bentley it does seem feasible that a drover's road did exist in the area and these names are associated with it.

Dating Little London and Piccadilly

Little London and Piccadilly probably had residents from as early as 1850, with identifiable census records starting in 1851. Of course we can't be totally reliant on these records. Sometimes you find that names like Little London and Piccadilly are often not included by census enumerators, the 1841 census being one example. The same goes for electoral rolls, which may be missing that same vital detail. 

The earliest map to mention Little London is the 1850 edition shown above. So at this moment in time there are no available records to prove the age of Little London. Piccadilly is not mentioned on any maps prior to 1960, although buildings are visible on the old OS maps.

Piccadilly in the forefront with
Little London behind, 1933

Piccadilly can also be seen on this map of 1933 (above). The road in front of the houses in Church Street, off which is a narrow entrance which passes by a terrace of houses and then continues to Little London.

The Houses

Close up view of the houses at Little London in 1933

The photo above, taken in 1933, shows Little London in some detail. There is a block of seven houses at the back, and a further block of two houses facing them across a courtyard. There are some small outbuildings bordering the south and east corner which may be privies or wash houses; just visible in the centre is what looks like a street lamp and a water pump. In front of the courtyard are the allotments and the narrow road down to Church Street.

Nine households are pictured here and according to census records and electoral rolls the houses were numbered 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14. It is possible that there were more houses originally as numbers 1 to 5 are missing. House numbers seem to have been recorded from about 1901 as earlier residents did not have a house number included on their census/electoral records. Historically, house numbering was first introduced in this country in the 1880's, but probably wasn't widely used until later in more rural areas.

Residents

From extensive studies of the census and electoral rolls it has been possible to put together lists of Little London residents from 1851 to 1948. All residents from 1901 onwards have been matched to house numbers, whereas those residents between 1851 and 1901 could not be matched to house numbers. As mentioned earlier the 1841 census does not mention Little London as a place name, so if there was anyone living there at that time it's impossible to identify them. 

The lists are shown in alphabetical order by surname. The next column shows the house number they lived at; unidentified house numbers are left blank. The last column shows the years they were identified living there. Some addresses also show lodgers in residence, these are bracketed in the last column.

Spreadsheets showing each house through time are included at the end of this article.

Residents of Little London 1851 to 1948

Note: The above information is purely from records available at Ancestry.com. Missing or incorrect information is always a possibility which is beyond my control.

Lifestyles

Having found out the names of our Little London Residents the next question is what quality of life did they have? Clues can be gained from examining the kinds of occupations the heads of households had over the decades. By collecting data from the various census records and 1939 Register, we can see how different industries affected the kinds of work available in the area, and how these people lived. The findings are set out below:

1851 and 1861 - all heads of households were listed as farm, or agricultural labourers.

1871 - Five agricultural labourers and four railway workers were listed.

1881 - Census doesn't include the name 'Little London' so households cannot be determined.

1891 - One farm labourer, one shepherd, two bricklayers, and three railway workers.

1901 - One cowman (farm), one general labourer, and one bricklayer's labourer were listed.

1911 - Two farm labourers, one bricklayer, one general labourer, and five pit workers were listed.

1939 - One general labourer, two pit workers, one warehouseman, and one sewerage pump man were listed.

The move from agricultural work to railways and the pit is clear to see, but we can also see from this that the residents of Little London were very much of the working classes. The type of housing in Little London is also very much directed towards the working classes; we only have exterior photos to go on, but thanks to the 1911 census, which asks how many rooms are in the dwelling, further information can be gained.

Residents were asked to list the number of rooms in the house, including the kitchen, but excluding the scullery, landing, lobby, closet or bathroom etc.

Part of a 1911 census

The above image is from the 1911 census of Thomas Auty, the longest remaining resident of Little London between 1901 and 1933. Thomas lived at number six and has stated that his house had four rooms. Interestingly, this is only one of two houses in Little London to have four rooms, the other being number 14; the remaining seven houses were all said to have three rooms in total. 

We can also determine the number of bedrooms in these houses as William Briggs at number twelve states that his house has two bedrooms.

We can conclude from these details that the houses probably consisted of one living area on the ground floor, with two bedrooms on the first floor. The two houses with four rooms probably had a partitioned kitchen area.

Length of Residencies

So, now we have a picture of the houses and the people who lived at Little London, the next question is how long did most people live there? Bearing in mind that these houses were almost certainly rental properties, the lengths of tenancies could vary wildly with most families staying short-term and then moving on, often to find work. 

From the list of residents compiled we can see just how many short and long term residents Little London had over the years from 1851 to 1948.

In total thirty people/families stayed for just one year. Sixteen stayed for two years, while fifteen stayed for three years. Twenty two families stayed between four and twenty years, while just two families exceeded twenty years - The Wards at twenty four years, and the Auty's at thirty two.

The Francois Cementation Company

In 1922 the Francois Cementation Company Limited moved their business from Doncaster's South Parade, to land behind the houses at Little London.

The Francois Cementation Company was established in 1910 by Belgian Albert Francois, who was setting out to improve techniques in the sinking of shafts for coal mines. Starting out in premises at South Parade, Francois went on to patent a cementation technique used in the trenches during World War 1.

It was following this that the Bentley Works were established and the site housed a collection of workshops, machinery and equipment mainly used in the mining industry. The site also included a cricket/sports ground for the workers. Photos from 1933 illustrate the layout and contents of the site.

Bentley Works in 1933 (looking west)

In the photo above, the Doncaster to Leeds railway line can be seen diagonally beyond the buildings. Top left are the remaining houses of Little London, while the whole of the land behind is taken up with workshops and equipment storage.

Bentley Works and Little London in 1933 (looking north)

This photo, taken from another angle shows Little London and the allotments (bottom right) with Bentley Works to the rear and the cricket/sports ground to the centre right.

The entrance to Bentley Works in 1933, off Brustlingholme Lane

Bentley Works was accessed from an entrance on Brustlingholme Lane (now Jossey Lane) as can be seen in the photo above.

Wider shot of Little London and Bentley Works in 1933 (looking north)

This last photo shows a wider view of the whole site. Little London's houses are in the centre with Bentley Works behind. To the right is the end of Church Street and the level crossing leading on to Watch House Lane. Bottom centre is Pipering Lane. Further north is the cricket field (the central oval shape), and then the houses on Jossey Lane; just visible beyond those is Bentley Park.

Expansion

In 1941 the company was renamed The Cementation Company and new offices were built at the site. An additional ten acres of land was purchased on the west side of the railway line, but in accordance with wartime regulations, it was initially planted with wheat. In addition to providing wheat for the war effort, a large part of the Bentley Works was engaged in the manufacture of three-inch mortar bombs.

Cementation advert from the 1950's

Following the end of the war expansion really took off and by the mid 1950's the floor capacity of the workshops had doubled and sadly Little London was no more.

The Demise of Little London

Records of anyone living in the houses at Little London come to an end in 1948. Living next to a rapidly expanding industrial site must have become intolerable following the war, so it made sense for The Cementation to buy up the properties and land for their expansion to continue. 

Between 1948 and 1952 the properties were vacated and The Cementation expanded onto the site. Despite new units being erected the houses were not immediately demolished, although some appear to lie derelict in this photo from 1952.

The Cementation in 1952 with derelict Little London buildings, centre

By 1953 part of the main row of cottages had lost their ceiling joists, although the other buildings appear intact. The photo below shows the back of the cottage row with the pair of cottages facing them.

 

The Cementation in 1953 with Little London fast disappearing

Further Expansion

With wartime food production no longer required, the early 1950's  saw The Cementation expand the works on to the land at the west side of the railway line, off Pipering Lane.  For many years the site straddled both sides of the railway line. 

The photo below from 1952 shows the whole of the site from The Cementation sports grounds on Jossey Lane to the right, and the new works expansion on Pipering Lane to the left. The railway runs diagonally left to right through the centre. 

  

The Cementation works in 1952

The map below shows the site in 1960.

1960 map of the Cementation site

The Move to Housing

In the mid 1990's The Cementation became consolidated to the Pipering Lane site and the land to the east was cleared for redevelopment. This included the sports grounds and Manor Farm in 1997, which had occupied the corner of Jossey Lane for at least a hundred and fifty years.

Manor Farm

A new housing estate was built on the old Cementation/Little London site. Starting in 1995 and complete by 2002, around 288 houses were built, and the roads created were named - Westongales Way, Turnberry Court and Ansult Court. Entry to the estate is via Jossey Lane.

The Westongales estate, Bentley
Google Earth image

Skanska

In 2001 The Cementation became part of Skanska, a Swedish construction and development company, and the site was renamed 'Cementation Skanska'. 

In 2015 the site was transformed into the green facility it is today. Using solar panels and a heating system that uses biomass and waste machinery oil, as well as natural lighting have led to the company having a near zero effect on the environment.

The Cementation Skanska site today

Entrance to Cementation Skanska
Google Earth image

Piccadilly

The only lasting remnant of Little London is the cul-de-sac of Piccadilly, just off Church Street. Containing just two houses now, this small corner of Bentley is the only reminder of a hamlet long gone. 

Piccadilly as shown on a map of 1960

The entrance to Piccadilly viewed from Church Street

Above is a current view of the short road that is Piccadilly today. Interestingly, the house on the left is the only surviving building from the photos of 1933 (see below).

1933 view of Church Street. The house highlighted in red still survives today.

Piccadilly, centre bottom up, shown from the entrance on Church Street
to its end where it meets the Westongales estate. 


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Residents by House Number

The following spreadsheets show the history of each house in Little London through occupation. 

Starting in 1901 when occupiers could be matched to house numbers, and ending in 1948 when records cease. The first two spreadsheets cover house numbers 6 to 9, and the second two spreadsheets cover house numbers 10 to 14.

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And so ends our trip to Little London, hopefully it has provided some information new to you, and when you next find yourself near to Bentley level crossing, you can look out for the street name of Piccadilly and bring to mind a tiny clutch of houses called Little London and its history. Hopefully it will not slip from memory entirely now.

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Aerial photos from the 1930's and 1950's are from the website Britain from Above.

Alison Vainlo 2023