Spondon, which is now a suburb of the city of Derby, was a village dating back to Anglo-Saxon times. The name Spondon is derived from the Anglo-Saxon for gravelly hill. The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book. Spondon was destroyed in about 1333 by a great fire, the church and most houses being lost. The parish church dedicated to St Werburgh was built in 1390, replacing the original burnt down church.
The village greatly expanded in the 19th and 20th centuries due to industrial sites such as the huge British Celanese factory making cellulose acetate. This site has now closed.
Also closed is the Derby Canal which once flowed through the village. The railway station which opened in 1939 remains open.
