I live in a small village in Suffolk, and we have a Spong Lane on the outskirts. I have always wanted to know its origin and the definition here makes sense as a farm on the lane ends in a tapering arrowhead of land. It makes sense that if you cut land up into approximate squares and rectangles, you will eventually create a piece shaped like a spearhead, particularly if you come alongside an existing stream or track. Spong is the lane's old name, and some people round here think of it as a corruption of Sponge (there is a spring at one end of it, so it might have been wet); it spent some time as Jubilee Lane, after Queen Victoria's jubilee, but locals drifted back to the old title soon after.
Comments by natmegevans
NatMegEvans commented on the word spong
I live in a small village in Suffolk, and we have a Spong Lane on the outskirts. I have always wanted to know its origin and the definition here makes sense as a farm on the lane ends in a tapering arrowhead of land. It makes sense that if you cut land up into approximate squares and rectangles, you will eventually create a piece shaped like a spearhead, particularly if you come alongside an existing stream or track. Spong is the lane's old name, and some people round here think of it as a corruption of Sponge (there is a spring at one end of it, so it might have been wet); it spent some time as Jubilee Lane, after Queen Victoria's jubilee, but locals drifted back to the old title soon after.
Natalie Lloyd-Evans
March 15, 2011