English Place-name Society

Survey of English Place-Names

A county-by-county guide to the linguistic origins of England’s place-names – a project of the English Place-Name Society, founded 1923.

Spithurst

Early-attested site in the Parish of Barcombe

Historical Forms

  • Splytherst 1296 SR
  • Splidhurst 1327 SR

Etymology

Spithurst may have been the home of Alexander and Richard de Splytherst (1296 SR) and Lenota Splidhurst (1327 SR). If so the modern form of the name is corrupt. It is difficult to interpret splytherst otherwise than as 'split-wood,' i.e. one with a way through it, but if so the word 'to split' is 300 years earlier than the oldest quotation in the NED suggests.