Little Ealing was once a sleepy hamlet surrounded by farmland and orchards. This was not very long ago; it was within the lifetimes of many of those who have contributed their memories to this book. The country lanes have now become busy urban routes and the fields have been replaced with residential roads lined with terraced houses and gardens. Glimpses of this earlier world can still be seen, however, in the remaining old houses, the road layout and the open spaces. In this book, Little Ealing History Group try to capture something of that past world. They have traced the development of the area from rural hamlet to the thriving and diverse community it is today.