History Shorts: snippets of local history

Or, The brief existence and mysterious demise of Littletown Site of Littletown (Destroyed A.D. 1838). Image: CC-BY NLS It’s clearly marked on OS maps from the 19th and 20th century: Littletown, Destroyed A.D 1838. It sounds dramatic, right? An official record of a noteworthy event. At the very least, something that would warrant a mention in a local newspaper. Well, apparently not. Indeed, evidence of Littletown’s actual existence is scant, never mind its apparently sudden demise.  Location, location, location  The site where Littletown (sometimes Little Town) once stood is in present-day Oxfordshire, though in an area that was part of Berkshire until 1974. Its location is close to the river Thames, on the northern edge of Little Wittenham parish on its boundary with Long Wittenham parish. The nearby pair of wooded hills known as Wittenham Clumps or Sinodun Hills, one of which was the site of an Iron Age hillfort, are a familiar landmark. The wider area has yielded Bronze Age,...

"One Blake hung upon an oak in the way to Abingdon, beyond the half-way gate. This traitor betrayed three Christian kings, and would have betrayed the fourth ; upon which he was hanged, within two days after his design was discovered, upon the said oak, which is still called 'Blake's Oak.'  The wood was formerly a haunt of robbers, and here St. Edward* of Abingdon was once attacked by them, but his protestations of poverty being found to be true, he was allowed to proceed unharmed."  A Handbook for Travellers in Berks, Bucks, and Oxfordshire , London: J. Murray, 1860 A very small copse named Blake's Oak exists on land north of Abingdon near to where a proposed large housing development will be built. It lies relatively close to the slightly bigger Sugnell Copse and is adjacent to the main Oxford to Abingdon road. The OS Six Inch map (1888-1913) shows what is still effectively the modern extent of both copses (though I wonder if both copses were once joi...

Though it bears the name "McKnights Hill" today, Joe's Hill is the only name I've ever known for the B road linking Derrymore Road (beside the modern St Peter's Primary School) with Millvale Road in Cloughreagh townland outside Bessbrook in County Armagh (Northern Ireland). I've never, however, seen it named Joe's Hill on any map, including the excellent  historical maps available through the PRONI website  - it's just how I knew it growing up. Is this how others knew it? What can the maps tell us about its name, local or official? The earliest of these maps online is the OSNI historical first edition dated 1832-1846 and the road I know as 'Joe's Hill' is there, opposite the site of Derrymore House (now managed by the National Trust). On this map, and the 1846-62, version it appears to run awkwardly to an entrance by a gate lodge on the Derrymore House estate. I don't think a trace of this exists today. Beside its junction with Derr...