Survey of English Place-Names

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 .