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.

Hornspike

Other OS name in the Parish of Wem

Historical Forms

  • The Horne Spick 1680 PR(L)

Etymology

, 1808 PR(L) 10 , The Horne Spick 1680 PR(L) 9 . An earlier reference is to “ a mosse or seathe called Hornspike ” t.ElizRentSur . The building , near Wem Moss , is at the base of a sharply pointed projection of the parish boundary , on slightly raised ground which intrudes into the southern edge of a large area of moss in Fli . The name appears to be a compound of horn , used in Sa for pointed fields , and spike ' pointed object ' . The latter term , which NED notes from the late 14th cent. , is rare , perhaps hitherto unnoted , in place - names . The Elizabethan reference may be to a marshy hollow ( NED seath ) , since the area is not a moss .

Places in the same Parish

Early-attested site

Other OS name