Fastbridge Fm
Early-attested site in the Parish of Alfold
Historical Forms
- Farnspiche 1342 Ass
Etymology
Further light on this word is thrown by Moerman in his Ostnederlandsche plaatsnamen (NGN vii, 45) where he discusses the use of the word spik in Holland, and notes that it is used of a causeway of tree-trunks or brushwood covered with sods. He notes compounds Speckholt , Doornspijk (Thornspyc in 796, NGN iii, 82), Spiekvonders , pasture called Spijk , and the frequency of such names along the banks of streams. Along the Ems it can also be used of an enclosure made of brushwood.It is also given as the name of a fish-weir in the phrase unam piscaturam que dicitur spike , but this does not necessarily mean that spike itself denotes a fish-weir. The ultimate history of the word is obscure, but its associations would seem to be with some word denoting brushwood, possibly found in marshy land or the like. Fastbridge lies low, near a small stream. Wallenberg (loc. cit.) would take the word to be itself a stream-name, but the series of compounds now known to us makes this impossible.