Spondon

Spondon is a ward of the city of Derby, England. Originally a small village, Spondon dates back to the Domesday Book and it became heavily industrialised in the 19th and early 20th centuries, with companies such as British Celanese. The name Spondon is Anglo-Saxon and describes a gravelly hill. The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. In about 1333, a great fire, starting at The Malt Shovel, a local pub, and aided by an easterly wind, swept through the village destroying the church and all but a few houses, with just one casualty, the mayor. 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 and taught as part of the curriculum in local schools. A village fair was held on its 650th anniversary (circa.1990). Spondon became heavily industrialised in the 19th and the early 20th centuries, with companies such as British Celanese (now Celanese Corporation). The large site is now closed, but it made initially cellulose acetate during World War I and later other artificial fibres. Spondon is part of the City of Derby and sits in the Mid Derbyshire constituency for Westminster elections. The community lies on the north slope of the valley of the River Derwent east of Derby and is divided by the A52, which separates the residential Spondon village area at the top of the hill from the heavily industrialised area at the bottom. At the census in 2011 Spondon had a population of 12,377 of which 94.6% were White British, compared to 75.3% for Derby as a whole. The industrial belt lies to the south of Nottingham Road/Derby Road (an old Roman road) as does the disused canal and the railway. These barriers separate the residential three-quarters of the village from its industrial quarter. The various industries have included a dye works, electricity generating station, two scrapyards, sewage works, British Celanese synthetic fibres works and a tannery.