Leetle Street, Rahoon, Co Galway

nuffsaid

Does anyone know where this street would have been in 1819? I appreciate that the name could be mispelled or mistranscribed from the original parish register :-

Parish/District : Rahoon, Co Galway

Leetle Street

cheers!

Submara

Leetle Street or Little Street is now what is called Newcastle Road and runs from Cooke's Corner up to the Presentation Road turn. Little Street was in official use with the Galway Corporation up to the early 1970's. The reason Little street was so called was due to the large number of old Galway families with the Little/Leetle surname who lived for generations along the street and in the general area of Newcastle Road, Townparks, Parkavera, Henry Street, Dominick Street and Shantalla.

The discrepancy in spelling of Leetle/Little was due to who wrote the name down on various documents. If you do a trawl of the various historical records, the name alternates between the two spellings. I believe though not entirely that the 'Leetle' spelling came about due to the pronounciation of 'Little' with a strong Galway accent. However, there are other arguments, which suggest that the correct spelling was always Leetle but it metamorphosed in to 'Little' to conform to the classic 'British' standards in the early 20th century.

There are only a couple of 'Little' families left in Galway as the name was nearly wiped out through emigration in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

nuffsaid

Submara thanks a lot!

I found Little Street on the 1901 census and there was a Leetle family living there! I still couldn't find "Little Street" on the old OS map. I suppose back in the day, street names were perhaps more locally recognised. It's great to have someone with local knowledge.

Thank a lot.

ifconfig

Submara - I've sent you a PM as I've an ongoing interest in this Little/Leetle family and other people with the Little surname and their origins around the island.

clanlittle

Hello, I found your message posts on a search of Leetle Galway. I am the Co-administrator of the Little DNA Project, and have recently encountered a Mr Little who informs me his original family name in Galway was Leetle. Mr Little confirms much of what I read in your posts above. At present I am working to connect Mr Little of Galway with his North American kin.

Any info you might provide on the subject of the Leetle/Littles of Galway would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,