Spaldington One-Place Study

This study is being created collaboratively by members of the Howdenshire Archaeological Society as a local history project focussing on an area of interest to Society members.

Spaldington is a small village in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The village appears in the Domesday Book under the name of Spellinton, but may have been established much earlier, the name possibly being derived from the Saxon ‘Spalda’ tribe.
Over time, the village has been home to a number of well-known families, including the de Vescis, the de la Hayes and the recusant Vavasour family, who lived for several centuries in the Elizabethan mansion, Spaldington Hall.

More recently, between 1916 and 1930, the airship station, RNAS Howden, was located in the southern part of the parish. It was here that Sir Barnes Wallis designed and built the R100 airship, which made its maiden flight in 1929. Sadly, the loss of the R101 airship brought plans for commercial use of airships to an end and the Spaldington station was closed in December 1930.