Spalford is a hamlet and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the

Newark and Sherwood Newark and Sherwood is a local government district and is the largest district in Nottinghamshire, England. The district was formed on 1 April 1974, by a merger of the municipal borough of Newark with Newark Rural District and Southwell R ...

district of

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

, England. Spalford was listed in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

(1086) as 'Spaldesforde'. The hamlet is located between

South Clifton South Clifton is a village and civil parish about 10 and a half miles north of Newark-on-Trent, in the Newark and Sherwood district, in the county of Nottinghamshire, England. In 2011, the parish had a population of 326. The parish touches Thorne ...

and Weecar near the county boundary with

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

, north of

Newark-on-Trent Newark-on-Trent or Newark () is a market town and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district in Nottinghamshire, England. It is on the River Trent, and was historically a major inland port. The A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road bypasses th ...

. Spalford was a township in the parish of

North Clifton North Clifton is a village and civil parish about 12 miles north of Newark-on-Trent, in the Newark and Sherwood district, in the county of Nottinghamshire, England. In 2011, the parish had a population of 216. The parish touches Thorney, Fledboro ...

, it became a separate parish in 1866. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 85. To the west of the parish is the

River Trent The Trent is the third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands. The river is known for dramatic flooding after storms and ...

, and to the south is the Local nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest known as Spalford Warren. The reserve habitat is made up of blown sand

heathland A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

, which is rare in Nottinghamshire.

Spalford Floodbank

In 1795 during the largest known flood on the Trent, the

floodbank A levee (), dike (American English), dyke (Commonwealth English), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is a structure that is usually earthen and that often runs parallel to the course of a river in its floodplain or along low-lying coastli ...

which is situated between Spalford and the river was breached. Floodwaters from the

breach Breach, Breached, or The Breach may refer to: Places * Breach, Kent, United Kingdom * Breach, West Sussex, United Kingdom * ''The Breach'', Great South Bay in the State of New York People * Breach (DJ), an Electronic/House music act * Miroslava ...

spread out across the low-lying land, even reaching the

River Witham The River Witham is a river almost entirely in the county of Lincolnshire in the east of England. It rises south of Grantham close to South Witham at , passes through the centre of Grantham (where it may be closely followed using the Riversi ...

and flooding

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

. Some 20,000 acres were flooded for a period of over three weeks. A description of the breach was given as follows: The flood bank was subsequently strengthened and repaired, following further Trent floods in 1824 and 1852. Girton floodmarks - geograph

References

{{reflist Hamlets in Nottinghamshire Civil parishes in Nottinghamshire Newark and Sherwood