A ‘Little’ Journey

London, Switzerland, Germany… What do all these places have in common? The answer is: you can find them all within the Leeds-Bradford area.Today we thought we’d take a little journey through Europe, Secret Library style. We’ll start in the well-known Leeds suburb of Little London, before calling in on the city’s other Little London, then chug past Little Switzerland to end up in Little Germany, by which time we’ll be in Bradford. Why? Well, it’s a nice day for a trip out – even if it’s only an imaginary one – and we’ll get to see some interesting resources from the Local and Family History department along the way. All aboard!

Stop 1: Little London, Leeds

History books – of which we have many – generally agree that the name Little London began as a nickname for the area around Lovell Park Road, Claypit Lane and the Oatlands, just north of Leeds city centre. Historian John Gilleghan, puts it down to this once being a “fashionable area with interesting architecture and expensive mahogany used in many houses, comparable with parts of London” (see Leeds: An A-Z of Local History, shelf mark: L 942.819 GIL). While we’re here, let’s have a quick look at two offbeat items from our collection, both relating to the area.