Little John (Markfield)

Locality
Coordinate	52.6702, -1.2603
Adm. div.	Leicestershire
Vicinity	1.3 km SSE of Markfield
Type	Natural feature
Interest	Robin Hood name
Status	Extant
First Record	1885
A.k.a.	John's Hill

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Little John.

Little John, the little hill / Mat Fascione, 29 Jul. 2007, Creative Commons, via Geograph.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2018-02-17. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2021-01-06.

A small, sharply defined hill c. 1.3 km SSE of Markfield and c. 5 km NW of Leicester, is named Little John. From its summit there is an excellent view in all directions.

The hill appears on the first (1835) 1" O.S. map of the area. The earliest evidence i have for the name "Little John" is a 5" O.S. map of the area from 1885. The English Place-Name Society's volume on this part of Leicestershire notes that

a nod to Little John of the Robin Hood legend is poss[ible]., but otherwise John is prob[ably]. a familiar name for any notable isolated physical feature, to be compared with the outcropping hill Old John, 3 3/4 miles to the north-east in Bradgate Park.

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Gazetteers

• Not included in Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976), pp. 293-311.

Sources

• Cox, Barrie; Watts, Victor, introd.; Coates, Richard, gen. ed.; Cavill, Paul, production ed. The Place-Names of Leicestershire (English Place-Name Society, vols. LXXV, LXXVIII, LXXXI, LXXXIV, LXXXVIII, XC-XCI) (Nottingham, 1998-2016), pt. VI, p. 177, and source reference p. xxvii.

Maps

• 25" O.S. map Leicestershire XXX.3 (c. 1886; surveyed 1885). No Copy in NLS
• 25" O.S. map Leicestershire XXX.3 (1903; rev. 1901)
• 25" O.S. map Leicestershire XXX.3 (1903; rev. 1901) (georeferenced)
• 25" O.S. map Leicestershire XXX.3 (1915; rev. 1914)
• 25" O.S. map Leicestershire XXX.3 (1920; rev. 1928)
• 6" O.S. map Leicestershire XXX.NE (1885; surveyed 1885)
• 6" O.S. map Leicestershire XXX.NE (1904; rev. 1901)
• 6" O.S. map Leicestershire XXX.NE (1904; rev. 1901) (georeferenced)
• 6" O.S. map Leicestershire XXX (1919; rev. 1913-14)
• 6" O.S. map Leicestershire XXX.NE (1930; rev. 1928)
• 1:25,000 O.S. map Leicestershire XXX.NE (1904; rev. 1901) (georeferenced)
• 1:1 mill.–1:10k, SK501083 (1900s) (georeferenced)
• 1:1m to 1:63, SK501082k (1920s-1940s) (georeferenced)
• 1" O.S. map Atherstone (Hills), Sheet 155, Revised: 1898, Published: 1899 (georeferenced)
• 1" O.S. map Atherstone (Outline), Sheet 155, Revised: 1898, Published: 1899 (georeferenced)
• 1" O.S. map Derby and Leicester (1959; surveyed 1950-56) (georeferenced).

Background

• Wikipedia: Markfield.

Also see

• Places named after Little John.

Notes

• 

  Little John / Mat Fascione, 29 Jul. 2007, Creative Commons, via Geograph.

• 

  View of Leicester from the summit of Little John / Mat Fascione, 29 Jul. 2007, Creative Commons, via Geograph.

• 

  Leicester City Skyline, looking southeast from Little John / Mat Fascione, 29 Jul. 2007, Creative Commons, via Geograph.

• 

  Houses located along the A50, Bradgate Hill, seen from Little John / Mat Fascione, 29 Jul. 2007, Creative Commons, via Geograph.

• 

  Looking southwest from the summit of Little John / Mat Fascione, 29 Jul. 2007, Creative Commons, via Geograph.

 Leicestershire place-names 

 Place-names