Description
The name Spondon is Anglo-Saxon and describes a gravelly hill.
The ancient village centre (around St. Werburgh's Church) and the modern commercial centre (Chapel Street - Sitwell Street) are situated atop a ridge which falls-away to the south.
In about 1333, a great fire, starting at the Malt Shovel Inn and aided by an easterly wind, swept through the village destroying the church and all but a few houses. The damage was so great that a judge, Roger de Bankwell, was sent to hear pleas for relief from taxes. The Great Fire of Spondon is still commemorated. On its 650th anniversary a village fair was held in the 1990s.
Spondon won the Urban Community award from Britain in Bloom in 2005.
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