Little John's Meadow (Kirkby)

Locality
Coordinate	c. 53.4791, -2.9147
Adm. div.	Lancashire
Vicinity	c. 1.5 km W of Kirkby, Liverpool; c. 300 m S of M57
Type	Area
Interest	Robin Hood name
Status	Defunct
First Record	1839

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Little John's Meadow was situated in the area indicated.

Little John's Meadow was situated in this area / Google Earth Street View.

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2021-01-14. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2021-01-14.

A meadow c.. 1.5 km west of Kirkby, Walton on the Hill, Liverpool, was known as 'Little Johns Meadow' in 1839.

The plot figures under that name in the tithe award for Kirkby, prepared that year, with The Earl of Sefton, i.e. William Molyneux, 4th Earl of Sefton (1835–97), as landowner, Richard Naylor as occupier, state of cultivation as '[m]eadow', 'Little Johns Meadow' as '[n]ame and description of lands and premises', and an area of 1 acre, 1 rood and 13 perches (Template:AcreRoodPerchToM2 m²). It was situated immediately south of a no longer existing 'Hob Lane', and plots in its immediate vicinity figure in the tithe award as Hob Lane Meadow, Far Hob Lane Hey, Near Hob Lane Hey, Hob Lane Hey, and Hob Lane Croft. With 'Hob' being a familiar form of 'Robert', it is conceivable that the name 'Little Johns Meadow' may have been inspired by the name of the lane, interpreted as relating to Robin Hood. However, there was also a 'Young Neds Meadow' a few hundred meters to the north, so it is also possible that 'Little Johns Meadow' was named after a former occupier, who might then have been named John Little or surnamed Littlejohn.

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.

MS sources

• 1839 tithe award for Kirkby parish, Waltham on the Hill, online at the Genealogist, piece 18, sub-piece 187, image 012 (subscription required)
• accompanying map, online at the Genealogist, piece 18, sub-piece 187, sub-image 001 (subscription required).

Maps

• 25" O.S. map Lancashire XCIX.12 (c. 1893; surveyed c. 1891). No Copy in NLS
• 25" O.S. map Lancashire XCIX.12 (1908; rev. 1906) (georeferenced)
• 25" O.S. map Lancashire XCIX.12 (1908; rev. 1906)
• 25" O.S. map Lancashire XCIX.12 (1927; rev. 1925)
• 6" O.S. map Lancashire XCIX (1850; surveyed 1845–48)
• 6" O.S. map Lancashire XCIX.SE (1894; surveyed 1889–91)
• 6" O.S. map Lancashire XCIX.SE (1909; rev. 1906) (georeferenced)
• 6" O.S. map Lancashire XCIX.SE (1909; rev. 1906)
• 6" O.S. map Lancashire XCIX.SE (1928; rev. 1925)
• 6" O.S. map Lancashire XCIX.SE (c. 1933; rev. 1925)
• 6" O.S. map Lancashire XCIX.SE (1947; rev. 1938).

Background

• Wikipedia: Earl of Sefton
• Wikipedia: William Molyneux, 4th Earl of Sefton.

Also see

• Places named after Little John.

Notes

 Lancashire place-names 

 Place-names