The settlement emerged south-west of the Hawthorn Bank tollbar on the turnpike to Deeping St James, following the enclosure and draining of Spalding Common in the early 19th century.

Though originally a discrete settlement, it has been absorbed into Spalding's urban area by large planned housing developments built in the 20th and 21st centuries.

[4] After this, a settlement emerge south-west of Hawthorn Bank along the road, consisting of tradespeople, inns and shops catering for residents of the Common, who preferred to use their services as this did not requiring crossing the tollbar and paying to access services in Spalding town.

[3] By the late 1880s, the Ordnance Survey map shows that Little London by then also included two windmills, a corn mill and a public house, Oat Sheaf Inn.

[11] Spalding Common Community Hall opened in March 1956,[12] and was rebuilt in December 1976 following a fire, at a cost of £20,000.