Spixworth – Name Origin

The above photo was taken from the graveyard of the rather lovely St. Peter’s Church in Spixworth. And this is what The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Placenames writes about the village’s name:

Spixworth, Norfolk. Spikesuurda in Domesday Book, Spicasurda in 1163 and Spicheswrtha in the twelfth century. Spic’s Word, the first element being a nickname, perhaps derived from spic ‘bacon’, or simply ‘bacon farm’.

Firstly, that’s an interesting place to live, somewhere called bacon farm. Rolling back a bit though, the worth is from the Anglo-Saxon ‘weorthig’, meaning a protected place or some form of enclosed land. So, the meaning is either an enclosure belonging to a person called Spic, or, as suggested, a bacon farm (and the German word for bacon is still ‘Speck’). I think I prefer the bacon farm theory.