Littlemore and Blackbird Leys - place names and field names

by Maggie Willis and Jane Darke

Littlemore, located approximately three miles from Oxford City centre, was formerly a township divided between two ancient parishes. The larger part is thought to have been connected with the parish of St Mary the Virgin,  Oxford, from pre-Norman times, with the lesser part belonging to Iffley. This study considers Littlemore as it was at the time of the 1819 Enclosure Award, including a large part of what is now Blackbird Leys. This area was  bounded on the north by the Iffley and Cowley parishes, on its eastern edge by the old Roman road and Garsington Parish, to the south divided from Sandford Parish by a stream now known as Northfield Brook, and by the River Thames to the west. Littlemore remained a rural township with  agriculture at the heart of its economy until the 1920s, when expansion of the Littlemore hospital and motor works at Cowley led to much housing development. Additional acreage was transferred from Iffley to Littlemore in 1885 and 1928. The modern parish is 1,038 acres.

the full report is available to download here