Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Sprotone 1086 DB

• Sproxcheston c.1130 LeicSurv

• Sprokeston' 1183 P e.13 Laz 1404 Fees 1236

• Sprokestona 1197 RydCart e.14

• Sprokestun e.13 Laz 1404

• Sproxton(') 1166 P 1190 1200 Cur 1210 FF 1215 Cur

• Sproxton(') Boby 1242 Fees

• Sproxton(') Paynell 1534 Fine

• Sproxton(') Painell 1548 ib

• Sproxtona 1147 BM 1155×58 Ch 1329 CRCart l.13

• Sproxtone 1209×19 RHug 1221 Cur 1232 RHug

• Sproxtuna 1209×19 ib

• Sproxtun' 1226 Cur 1236 Fees

• Sprochton' 1184 P 1185 ib

• Sprocton 1202 ChancR

• Sprostona c.1154 Rut

• Sprouston' 1201 Cur

• Sprowston 1523 Ipm

• Sprauston 1549 Pat

• Sprawston 1603 Fine

• Sprawson 1539 Rut

• Sproson 1612 Terrier

• Hugo de Boby a.1250 CroxR

Etymology

This p.n. also occurs in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Ekwall (DEPN) interprets the first el. in both names as a Scand  pers.n. Sprok and notes that 'OSw Sprok seems to occur'. Smith (YN 70), following Ekwall's suggestion, draws attention to Sproxmire (13th cent.) in Crakehall (YN) and Sproxstatha (1376) recorded by Lundgren-Brate, which also appear to contain the OSw  pers.n. Sprok and associates the pers.n. with OFris , LGerm  sprock 'brittle'. However, Fellows-Jensen (SSNEM 187) asserts that 'there is no evidence for the pers.n. Sprok in Scandinavia' and suggests that it seems more satisfactory to take the first el. of both p.ns. as an unrecorded ODan  *sprogh 'brushwood, twigs', cognate with the independently unrecorded OE  *sprǣg which occurs in several p.ns. in the south of England, especially in Devon and Wiltshire (v. Elements s. v .). Formally, the Scand  Sprógr , an original by-name (cf. OIcel spróga 'to amble (of a horse)'), also deserves consideration as the first el. of the p.ns. However, it only occurs as the name of a horse in Sturlunga saga but is not recorded in Scandinavia as a pers.n. or as a byname (v. SPNLY 261).

Sproxton in Leics. occupies a favourable site on a south-west-facing hillside towards the head of a tributary valley of that of R. Eye. It was without doubt a major pre-Scandinavian English settlement with its own tōt -hyll 'look-out hill' and stōw 'place of assembly' (v. Toote hill and the Stooe in f.ns. (b) infra ). In the churchyard of St Bartholomew's Church is a fine Anglo-Saxon standing cross, the only complete example in the county. A mile and a half to the south-west on R. Eye itself lies Coston, another former English settlement occupying a similar favourable site and restyled with the name of a Scandinavian overlord, probably Kátr .Both settlements, with surrounding villages with names in bȳ and þorp , appear to be of the Grimston-hybrid type, i.e. former Anglo-Saxon villages/estate centres appropriated by Scandinavians at the disbanding of the Great Army in 877 and renamed to particularize their new Scandinavian owners.

The preponderant spellings for Sproxton with genitival s point to a pers.n. in the possessive case as the first el. rather than to a substantive.It may also be argued that a Scandinavian word for 'brushwood, twigs' being used in renaming a major Anglo-Saxon settlement is scarcely conceivable. We may think, then, of Sproxton as probably 'Sprok's village, estate', v. tūn . 'Sprógr's village, estate' cannot be discounted, but is much less convincing. It is worth noting that the 16th and 17th cent. forms Sprawson and Sproson show typical Leics. loss of t from the group -ston in the 16th cent. and later.

Hugo de Boby a.1250CroxR held the manor in the first half of the 13th cent., while Thomas Paynell held land in Sproxton in 1534 Fine.