Early History

There are a number of theories as to how the name of Spaldington came about.  One writer, A.H. Smith, suggests that Spaldington was first established by an offshoot of the great tribe of Spalding, from the Lincolnshire Spalding district, who found their way across the marshes and decided to stay on the higher ground, to the north of the present village street.  [1]  Add to this the Anglo Saxon 'ing' meaning a people or tribe and 'ton' meaning a village or town(ship) and we reach 'Spaldington', the township of the tribe of Spalding.

A further suggestion on a similar line to that of A.H. Smith is that the tribe was known as the Spalda, as mentioned in the 7th century Tribal Hidage.  This tribe gave rise to the Spaldingas, the 'dwellers by the Spald', possibly referring to a fenland river.  The Spaldingas also gave their name to the town of Spalding in Lincolnshire.

In the early days of Spaldington, the village came within the Harthill Wapentake, Holme Beacon Division.  Other villages in this wapentake included Aughton, Bubwith, Ellerton Priory, Melbourne, Willitoft, Gribthorpe and Wressell.

The word 'wapentake' derives from the Saxon Waepen-tac, meaning weapon-touch.  Apparently, when a new chief was appointed, all the men of the wapentake would gather together before their newly appointed chief, who alighted from his horse and held his spear aloft.  Every man then approached the chief and touched his spear with his own weapon, thus symbolising their mutual bond and agreement to stand by each other.

Until 1340 the wapentakes had their separate courts.  However, in this year Edward III passed a statute discontinuing the courts and transferring their business to the county courts.

Sources:

1.   From unpublished folder of Spaldington history, kindly lent to the Society.