Spilsbury Hill
Early-attested site in the Parish of Mamble
Etymology
It is difficult to be sure if we have any early forms referring to this name. The form Spelebury quoted by Duignan (152) for 1275 belongs to a family in Elmley Castle and the Spellesbury of 1327 to one from Kempsey and Abberton, sufficiently far away, but as the name is not likely to have been a common one in place-names we should perhaps connect them with this place and believe that the family so called originally came from here. For Spilsbury (O) we have a form Speolesbyrig in BCS 1320 and this name may go back to the same OE form. This is presumably from a pers. name allied to the Spila found in the will of Bishop Alfwold of Crediton (Crawford Charters , no. x).Stevenson (132) connects this with the name Spileman found in Heming (291) and in the Chester Cartulary ed. Tait, i. 71.He notes the various names in Spili - to be found in Förstemann (1356). Hence 'Speol 's burh1.' There was also a Spilsberyslynge in Ribbesford in the 16th cent., probably a 'linch' owned by a member of the Spilsbury family. Further, we may note a Spellesberwe in the 1408 extent of Bredon (EcclVar ). It is probable however that this is from OE spelles-beorg ,'hill of speech,' used of some place of public assembly. v. spell .