Aunty Agony

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A British reader emailed Aunty about an interesting corner of his homeland called "Spanker's Hill." Britches writes:

As a spanking enthusiast, I am fascinated by the history of spanking. I have a particular interest in an historical place in England. It's just outside London in a public park, Richmond Park to be precise. There is a wonderful part of the park called 'Spanker's Hill'.

My wife and I often visit this part of the park as it has a very fascinating natural phenomenon. In the middle of a clearing on Spanker's Hill stands an ominous old tree. From this tree, protrudes a single, thick branch, about 50 meters long which stretches outwards and dips down to waist height from the ground.

My wife and I, use the 'Spanker's Hill Tree' as the perfect place and setting for a little alfresco spanking. Although recently, we've been more and more interested in the history of this very old tree, for the following reasons:-

• As shown in the attached photos , it has natural growths that resemble bare buttocks, something that our ancestors may have recognized as a spanking symbol.
• Also shown in the photos, there are also many old carvings that look like dates and names in the bark of the tree, I like to believe that they are old records of public registration of those placed over the 'Spanking tree on Spanker's Hill'

Oddly, the name 'Spanker's Hill', as far as records show in the local Richmond library, has no history - usually British places have older records and history attached. Spanker's Hill is undocumented, unlike the rest of the park.

Aunty has also tried her hand at researching the history of "Spanker's Hill," but came away empty-handed. Perhaps a historically-minded reader can provide more information on how this place got to be so tantalizingly named?

PS: Readers interested in 'alfresco' spankings administered to miscreants bent over tree branches might enjoy this entry from Sierra Salem's blog.