This map was drawn by Dury and Andrews in 1766, and was surveyed a few years before the Reading and Hatfield Turnpike Trust arrived to toll the Hatfield road (the west-east road in the top third of the map below). To the left is the hamlet of Smallford, named Small Foot on this map. We assume this to be an error which arose from recording the spoken word. It is probable that the map makers did not refer to earlier maps, and as we have already seen, Smallford was not named at all in Kip’s earlier map.
Near a cross roads further north is a location named Four Wants. This little cluster of buildings will later become renamed Smallford, but the early name is puzzling. It may have referred to four mean cottages in serious need of improvement and occupied by families with few means. Alternatively, since it is close to where the Hatfield road is intersected by a north-south lane, perhaps Wants is a corruption of ways – four ways.
