LITTLE ILFORD
Including Manor Park
Little Ilford, Essex, ¾ miles southwest of Great Ilford, and a station
on the Great Eastern Railway (Colchester Line): population 675, of whom 33 were inmates of
the gaol. Inn, the Three Rabbits, on the London road.
The church and quiet old village lie among perfectly flat fields, ¼
mile south of the high road, but the parish stretches some way north of it, and comprises
within its boundaries the County House of Detention, better known as Ilford Gaol, a large
brick structure, erected in 1831, and the City of London Cemetery. Little Ilford Church
(the Virgin Mary), is a mean brick substitute for a venerable ivy-clad building, one of
the most picturesque village churches near London, destroyed a few years back. In it are
some monuments removed from the old church - north of chancel, mural, of William
Waldegrave, d. 1610, and wife, d. 1595, alabaster effigies, coloured, with kneeling
effigies beneath of their 3 sons and 4 daughters, and at the sides, arms and obelisks: a
characteristic example of the monumental art of the time. In the vestry, John
Lethieullier, of Aldersbrooke, d. 1724, Smart Lethieullier, " the antiquary of
Essex," d. Aug. 27,1760, and other members of the Lethieullier family, noted in Essex
annals.
The manor of Aldersbrooke was purchased in 1786 by Sir J. Tylney Long,
who pulled down the mansion and built a farmhouse on the site. Lysons, writing at the end
of the last century, says, "A great mart for cattle, from Wales, Scotland, and the
north of England, is held annually, from the latter end of February till the beginning of
May, on the flat part of the forest," or Wanstead Flats, and he adds that "a
great part of the business between the dealers is transacted at the Rabbits in this
parish." The mart has long ceased, and the Three Rabbits is a less important house
than of old, but is still frequented by graziers and cattle dealers.
[Handbook to The Environs of London :
James Thorne 1876]
Church Records:
- St. Mary the Virgin, Church Road
- Baptisms to 1969, Marriages to 1972, Burials to 1969: ERO (amended
11/2001)
- St. Barnabas, Browning Rd
Baptisms 1901- date, Marriages 1901- date : Not deposited
- St. Mary's Mission, Grantham Rd
Baptisms 1941-1947 : Records with St. Mary
- St. Michael and All Angels, Romford Rd
Baptisms 1898- date, Marriages 1898- date : ERO (except current
Registers)
- St. Nicholas (Roman Catholic), Gladding Rd
Baptisms 1868- date, Marriages 1919- date : Not deposited
- St. Stephen (Roman Catholic), Church Rd
Formed 1918
- Methodist Chapel, Sixth Ave
Marriages 1936-1962 : ERO
- Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Romford Rd
Marriages 1920-1934 : ERO
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Click the image to view
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Church of St. Mary the Virgin
from a digital photograph
by Dave Wild
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Manor Park Cemetery Chapel
from an original photograph
by Martin Williams
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City of London Cemetery
North Chapel
from an original photograph
by Martin Williams
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City of London Cemetery South Chapel
from an original photograph by Martin Williams
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