Spaldington
Major Settlement in the Parish of Bubwith
Historical Forms
- Spellinton 1086 DB
- Spaldi(n)ggetun t.Hy2 AddCh
- Spaldington(a), Spaldyngton(a) t.Hy2 Gilbert 1190–1210 YCh445 1231 Ass 1573 NCWills
- Spaldinton' 1190,1191,1230 P 1208 Ass 1231 Ass
- Spawdington 1494 Test
Etymology
Cf. Spaldingmoor and Holme upon Spalding Moor supra 13, 234. The common element in all these names is an OE Spaldingas , a tribal name. The Spaldingas settled in this district may well be an offshoot from the great tribe established in Lincolnshire and surrounding parts and probably identical with the Spalde of the Tribal Hidage (7th BCS 297). Cf. PN in -ing 87. The tribal name Spalde is thought to survive in Spaldwick (PN BedsHu 247) and Spalford (Nt), Spaldesford 1086 DB, Spaldeford 1302 FA, whilst the derivative tribal name Spaldingas , that is, 'the dependants or offshoots of the Spalde ' (v. ing ), enters into Spalding (L), and this group of ERY names. The ultimate base of the name Spalde is obscure but it may be an OE word *spald cognate with OGer spalt 'trench, ditch, cleft' (used of a fenland river) or a river-name derived from OE spald 'spittle, saliva, foam' (cf. PN Nt 127–8 and PN BedsHu 248).If the ERY group is independent of the Lincolnshire tribe, the etymon of the ERY names Spaldingas would be a river-name Spald , which we must suppose was an old name for the river Foulness (supra 4).