Little Driffield

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude = 54.006321
longitude = -0.461418
official_name = Little Driffield
static_

static_image_caption = St Mary's Church, Little Driffield
population =
civil_parish = Driffield
unitary_england = East Riding of Yorkshire
region = Yorkshire and the Humber
lieutenancy_england = East Riding of Yorkshire
constituency_westminster = East Yorkshire
post_town = DRIFFIELD
postcode_district = YO25
postcode_area = YO
dial_code = 01377
os_grid_reference = TA009577

Little Driffield is a small village in the East Riding of Yorkshire,
England. It is situated on the western outskirts of Great Driffield, to the west of the A614 road and south of the A166 road.

Little Driffield forms part of the civil parish of Driffield.

King Aldfrith of Northumbria (685 - 705) is supposed to be buried in the village church, St. Mary's, however no evidence of this was found when the nave and chancel were rebuilt and the floor excavated in 1807. (The 14th century tower remained untouched). It was again beautified in the 1890s by architect Temple Moor, this is probably when the graveyard was extended east also - judging by the dates on headstones. (see [http://www.blaven.eclipse.co.uk/church] ).

The village once boasted two public houses the Downe Arms (named after the lady of the manor), later a restaurant and now a private house and the Rose and Crown. It also had a large pond and green, the pond reduced in size sometime in the past and the majority of the green is now walled in and privately owned, it fronts onto the most prominent house in the village - Springfield House, (now Church House) which lost its iron railings, along with those from the churchyard, to help the war effort. (Second World War). The chapel from the 1860s was demolished recently and replaced by a house and the village school likewise some years ago. Elmswell Beck runs through the southern edge of the village and joins with Little Driffield Beck (from the pond) these are tributaries of the River Hull.

Horsefair Lane was for many years the home of clothing manufacturers factory Dewhirsts, this factory later became Arcadia clothing which closed some years ago, the site is now occupied by an industrial unit and new housing. The last horse sale was held in 1918.

The village has seen a lot of new housing since the 1990s, notably Londsborough Court - previously a milk tanker storage yard and many years ago an abattoir which adjoined Brendan Green, previously the site of a tannery. There were two tanneries in the village in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the other was on the site of Church Walk,(which incidentally is nowhere near the church), previously a pig farm, also six new houses (2006) up Horsefair Lane, two just built (2006) next to the Rose and Crown and several individual ones dotted about.

The A166 which ran through the village is now a lot quieter since the construction of the town bypass, (part of the A614) around 1982, there is still a bit of through traffic going to the nearby Kelleythorpe Industrial Estate about half a mile south.