Little Coates

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Little Coates is an area of western Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, England. Its history goes back to medieval times with a mention in the Domesday Book.

Previously a separate civil parish covering some 1,000 acres (4 km²), Little Coates stretches northward to the Pyewipe industrial estate, westward to the River Freshney and southward to Laceby Road (A46). On the other side of the river are Great Coates, the Willows and Wybers Wood estates. To the south, outside the Grimsby town boundary, lies the parish of Bradley.

The parish church is Saint Michaels on Great Coates Road, which works closely with the churches in Great Coates and Bradley villages. The Littlecoates Community Centre in Saint Michaels Road and the Yarborough Community Centre in Yarrow Road provide social activities for the residents of their respective areas.

The Gilbey Road area is considered to be part of the West Marsh and receives its community magazine Riverside. Another community magazine called Toothill and Roundabout is distributed in the Toothill and Yarborough Road area, while a third magazine, Generations, is circulated in the Crowland Avenue, Bradley Cross Roads and Laceby Acres areas. Part of the Freshney Parkway, Grimsby Auditorium, Grimsby Golf Course and Grimsby Leisure Centre are to be found within Little Coates. The only public library in the area was closed in 2004.

[edit] History

Little Coates was already inhabited by the time of the Norman conquest. By 1861 it had a population of 59 and consisted of Saint Michaels church and a few cottages. There was also a farm on the site where now stand the recreation ground and golf course.

Located within the parish, near present day Littlefield Lane and Chelmsford Avenue, were natural water springs. Waterworks were established here in 1863 by the Great Grimsby Waterworks Company. Supplies were pumped from these springs to homes in neighbouring Grimsby via a reservoir at Scartho. Today the site is owned by Anglian Water.

In 1901 the population had reached 83. In the northern corner of the parish fish curing houses were erected and Dixons paper mill was opened in 1906. The population rapidly increased; houses and Little Coates School were built and a community was established in the Gilbey Road area (the school is still open but the paper mill closed many years ago). Housing spread to other areas of the parish and by 1921 the population stood at 2,768.

In 1928 Little Coates ceased to exist as a separate civil parish when most of it was absorbed by Grimsby, with a tiny portion being allocated to Great Coates. Before amalgamation the boundary with Grimsby ran along Pyewipe Road. To the east of this line, within Grimsby, were Corporation Road, Armstrong Street and the rest of the West Marsh. On the Little Coates side were Gilbey Road, Elsenham Road and neighbouring streets.

Using the present day street layout the boundary continued southward along the western edge of Boulevard Avenue, taking in Yarborough Road, parts of Marklew Avenue and Morton Road. It then ran along the eastern edges of Shaftesbury Avenue, Clifton Road, Richmond Road, Kingston Avenue, the Waterworks Cottages, Cambridge Park estate, Sherwood Road and the Crowland housing estate, finishing at Laceby Road just west of modern day Saint Mark's Church.