The hill on which Spondon stands can be seen from the other side of the Trent valley, as far away as Breedon-on-the-Hill in Leicestershire, which is twenty miles to the south. Some say the name Spondon comes from the Saxon 'Spoundun', meaning a hill place where hardwood for spoons or stones for tiles can be found. Some of the old timers still pronounce it as 'Spoondun'. Spon in Old English meant a stone chip or a wood shaving; it also meant a shingle, a stone used for a roofing tile.

Saint Werburgh's church has been the most prominent landmark of Spondon since around 1390, it's spire reaching to a height of 114 feet, dominating the skyline and crowning the first rise of the Pennine hills. I could see the church from our windows and garden, and it always had great meaning for me. We lived in its kindly shadow, we attended its feasts and Saint's days, we said our goodbyes to unsung village heroes in it and to all the rest, the great and least of us. The steeple clock chimed each quarter-hour and marked the passage of life in the village. The sound of church bells told us what was happening. The single bell tolling for the latecomers to Matins, the changes gladly ringing out for Eucharist and evensong. Joyous peals of the six large bells bursting out on Saturday mornings for weddings, and occasionally the pause and the sudden realization of one's own mortality at the sombre tolling of the single 'passing' bell.

The Anglo-Saxons migrated into this area in the 5th century and the Anglo-Saxon and Danish influences are to be seen all around the Derwent valley. During the 5th and 6th centuries this was part of the Kingdom of Mercia, and Repton, its capital, was served by settlements including Spondon and other small neighbouring hamlets. In the reigns of the Saxon Kings Offa and Alfred, Derby was known as Northworthy and fifteen miles to the east lay Snotinghame. These North Mercians of these districts numbered about 7000 households. Following the war between Alfred and Goodrum the region became part of the Danelaw, falling under the influence of the Vikings of Jorvik - now York. The name Derby comes from the Danish 'Deoraby' meaning 'the pasture where deer are found'. Two miles to the north of Spondon lay Depedale, the site of a pre-Norman hermitage and where in 1197 the building of a large abbey was begun. This is the legendary Dale of the Robin Hood stories.

An old Saxon cross with curious Celtic-style markings can be found in the churchyard, denoting early Christian activity, probably even before the end of the seventh century during which the Mercian Kings accepted Christianity. Originally dedicated to St. Werburgha, a Saxon princess, the Church and its Vicar were traditional Spondon institutions before the 9th century Danish invasions and Christianity was an integral part of its daily living. For many centuries life revolved around the church. North and west of the church, at a distance of about 50 yards is an ancient well. The depth of the water is three feet and it lies 18 feet from the surface. This was likely near the center of the old village. The church was dedicated to St. Mary, with its neighbouring chapels at Chaddesden and Stanley. For some hundreds of years, water from this well was used for baptisms and was carried for this purpose also to the two Chapelries. The appointment of Clerks as water-carriers was regarded as a matter of great importance

When England was conquered by William of Normandy all the estates were seized, and the Manor of Locko with Spondon was given to Baron Henri de Ferriers, a Norman companion of William. In the Domesday book of 1086 A.D. it was written that Stori, a Saxon, lived in Spondoun with land for five ploughs, fourteen villeins, two bordars having four ploughs, a church, a priest, a mill and a malthouse worth five shillings and four pence. There would probably be an Inn for travelers and others.

In 1180 A.D., William de Ferriers gave the church and land in Locko and Borrowash to the Burton Lazars, a religious and knightly order founded in the reign of King Stephen (1135-1154) and dedicated to the nursing and care of lepers. The Burton hospital had a master and eight sound brethren, together with several leprous brothers. They established a Preceptory of the Order north of Spondon village, on the way to Locko which took its name from this hospital. Lock was a derivation of the old French word "logues" meaning rags. This is an area we children always knew as "Lousy graves", a corruption of the Lazar's graveyard for the lepers. The Manor was forfeited in the reign of Henry III (1216-1272) because the Ferrers supported a rebellion against him, and it was then granted to Edmund, Earl of Lancaster.

The Taxation Roll of 1291 A.D. mentions "Spondon cum capella" undoubtedly referring to the Chapel at Stanley. The first mention of the Chapel at Chaddesden is in 1347. The vicars of Spondon have been listed since 1327 when William de Chirdestanton held office, followed by Alexander, and then John Sweet in 1349. In the year 1340, "on the evening of Thursday before the Sunday, next after Palm Sunday" malted oats which were drying in the malthouse caught fire. The blaze spread rapidly to cottages and then to the church. When it was finally over, the church and half the village lay in smoking ruins. The damage done amounted to over a thousand pounds - an enormous sum when we consider the relative value of money then and now. Records show that King Edward III kindly granted a petition from the priest and villagers for one year's tax exemption during the re-building.

When the church was finally rebuilt after the disastrous fire, five altars were provided, each with a piscina - the bowl and drain for the priest's ablutions. Pits have been found that are believed to be the site where the damaged bells were re-cast. This would require great skill and supervision of master craftsmen imported for the purpose. Three stone seats for the use of priests give an indication of the size of the building. Some parts of the tower survived the fire and are incorporated in the present structure. Great Tithes, or one-tenth of all produce, were due from all holdings to maintain the priest and the church. The Tithe Barn was in a yard adjacent to the Vicarage which had its own garden, an orchard of about half an acre, and farm outbuildings consisting of a thatched barn, a cowhouse and stable under the same roof. Glebe land was the East Dale about four acres, the West Close about 3 acres and three other acres of arable land.

In the reign of Henry IV (1399-1413) the village came into the possession of the Byrde family. In the fifth year of the reign of Edward IV (1455-1483) an Act was passed that every Englishman should have a bow of his own height and that archery butts should be provided in every Township for practice. Many of the stones in the church walls show the grooves which were used for sharpening the arrows. There were butts in Gladstone Road and at Cocksbutt on the Turnpike Road.

The closest religious centres of any size, other than the churches at Derby, were the Abbey of Dale and the Priory at Breadsall. It would be interesting to determine the relationships between all of these institutions before the Tudor dissolutions took place. In 1550, King Henry VIII was the patron of the vicar Robert Cooke. Then in the reign of Elizabeth Tudor, distributions of royal lands allowed William Gilbert of Barrow to acquire Locko manor with Spondon from William Byrde in 1563, and several generations of Gilberts afterwards maintained ownership. In 1577 the Queen was the patron of the Vicar John Wilson, M.A. Afterwards the Gilberts were the patrons of the church and had a large say in the selection of its vicars. William Gilbert in 1649 left the sum of £1,000 to be invested in land for the benefit of the poor of Spondon. Eventually the manor descended to John Gilbert Cooper who sold it to John Lowe in 1747. The last of the Lowes willed the Manor to a relation William Drury who assumed the name Drury-Lowe, and this was the family who still held it when I was a child.

For many years the borders of the Parish were impressed on the inhabitants by a custom known as "beating the bounds". Every seven years the vicar and parochial officials perambulated around the perimeter and confirmed the position of the ancient boundary stones. Encroachers on common land were prosecuted and fined. Younger pilgrims accompanying the officials were sometimes turned upside down to impress the location of the markers on their memories! The process appears in records dating from the eighteenth century.

Although change and progress was inevitable, there were sometimes thoughtless and even ruthless alterations to the church. One such episode was in 1826 when many old monuments were destroyed. Some decorative brass plaques on the walls of the church survived that listed historic names and I used to read and wonder about them. The large elm tree on the north side of the church was originally at the edge of the churchyard. Immediately in front of this tree were the village stocks. They were removed in 1835 when the churchyard was enlarged northwards to its present boundary. Extensive re-building also took place in the 1890's and Fred Ward, the grandfather of my friend John Ward, came to the village to be a stonemason for the reconstruction. The large vicarage was rebuilt and added to several times although managing to retain a balanced Georgian appearance. Alterations were noted in the year 1695 and a 1735 description says that it was brick-built, containing three rooms on a floor, with a brewhouse adjoining.

Some more vicarage alterations were made in 1775, and from a 1795 account it contained two parlours, two passages, two staircases, two garretts, a kitchen, a back kitchen, a pantry and two cellars. Much of this extension was due to the patron and Rev. Thomas Manlove.

The Reverend Henry C. Brocklehurst was made Vicar in 1925, the year I was born and he remained in office until retirement in 1939, just before I left school. The organist for many years was Mr. W. Anderson, a fine musician and my choir director. Each Christmas the church choir would take the long walk up Locko Road, and through the deer park to Locko Hall. There they would sing carols for the Squire and his family. Other church highlights of the year well-remembered from childhood were the Garden Fetes with sideshows in the grounds of the vicarage or at Locko Hall, Catching the Greasy Pig, Quoit-throwing, and the Bran Tub with its hidden prizes provided our modest rural summer excitements, together with the Annual Prizegiving Concert in the Church of England school for Infants. The church always had an interest in the education of its parishioners. When the Education Acts were passed in early nineteenth century, the church accepted the responsibility for the operations National School that was built in Chapel Street and had a strong influence on it, including the observance of feast days.
 

The Reverend Thomas E.M. Barber was Vicar from March 1939 onwards for forty-seven years and that also says something for the longevity of Spondon institutions. During his ministry he baptised five thousand, prepared a thousand for confirmation, and provided the sacrament of marriage to two thousand of his flock. The Vicar was a frequent visitor at the Infant's School and was always in attendance for the Annual Prizegiving and Concerts that I still remember as a highlight. Thomas was a high-churchman by conviction, a classmate of the then Archbishop of Canterbury, and very much in favour of rituals, incense and vestments.

The Boys Club that T.E.M. founded met in the Vicarage, giving a rare social life to many in the village and also provided annual summer camps for them at seaside locations. He was a kindly man, red faced, and with a good sense of humor, though one was never entirely sure that his accounts of encounters with various ghosts in and around the church were imagined or real. I would sometimes see him on my infrequent visits from the United States and we would have a good chat. T.E.M. remained a bachelor and died in retirement at Ockbrook in 1988. His father was a Canon from Lichfield Cathedral who, in his own retirement years, wrote a very good history of the Spondon church of St. Mary and St. Werburgh, entitled "How the Church came to Spondon". Some of the material in that book has been used for this compilation.

The Vicarage, so often the center of village social life, gradually became too old and outdated for further use, but still had a useful mission to perform for its parishioners. It was entirely fitting that in 1990 the vicarage became a peaceful nursing care facility for the elderly, at one time including my sister Marjorie who lived within a mile of the church for most of her life.