STAPLEGH / STAPLEY of SUSSEX

An attempt to record the history of the Sussex STAPLEYs as I understand it. Much of the early data is "third hand" from sources such as the LDS Ancestral File (AF), International Genealogical Index (IGI), Sussex Archaeological Collections (SAC), Rev. Edward Turner (Turner), and Victoria History of England-Sussex (VHE), and other researchers. Sources will be documented (in brackets) in due course. Corrections and suggestions are welcomed by email to me Neville Thomas in New Zealand.

Earliest records:

The word STAPLE apparently means a (wooden) post, and therefore STAPLEHURST means a wood where posts are gathered. OR, a settled mart or market, manufactured wool or other raw material.

1066- It has been suggested that the STAPLEYs arrived with William of Normandy. (There is a village of Staple in northern France)

1199-1216 (reign of King John) Adam Stapley at Stapley in Cheshire (James C Staples)

1217- "The King (Henry III) to Engeham de Cygony, greeting. We command you that you allow John STAPLEY (John de STAPLE ?) to hold his land at Stapley, by the same service as Adam his father did to King John our father , and that you demand no other from him nor allow to be demanded" (transcript from Close Rolls dated at Lambeth 2 December 1217, via BE) (Engelard de Cygony mentioned in Magna Carta, The Great Charter of King John granted June 15th, AD 1215)

1200s..The Staple Clan in Southern Somersetshire (in part). There is a STAPLEY village in Somerset, about 8 miles South of Taunton

"The records that remain today suggest that one or more of Alan de Staple, ca1200, of Staple parish descendants moved south six miles to Chardstock parish. Another may have moved northeast to the parish of North Curry at an early date. From these seats, the sons and daughters in future generations gradually spread out to many of the parishes in Somerset, Dorset and Devonshire"

1215- John de Staple of Staple near Odiham, Hampshire (James C Staples). 

1230 (c.) Peter de STAPELE, Lord of Stapele in Nantwich Hundred in Cheshire, by grant from Richard. There followed Robert--, William- Reginald-, Richard-, Peter-, & Philip de STAPLEGH (copy believed to be from Ormerod's "Cheshire" Vol. III page 497, in turn transcribed from Booth's pedigrees, via BE) This would be the present STAPLEY (with Water Gardens) just South of Nantwich.

1256-71- John de Staple of Winchester, Hampshire, King's servant, Sgt. At arms to King Edward I (James C Staples)

1316/17- William de Stapeles & Adam de Staples (Subsidy Roll - James C Staples)

1296-1332 STAPLEYs are to be found in parts of Sussex in the Middle Ages, (Lay Subsidy rolls for 1296, 1327 and 1332 by Sussex Record Society)

1400s- The STAPLEYs of Hixted (Hickstead) & Framfield appear frequently in the Battle Abbey deeds of the 15th century. A hundred near Battle is called the hundred of Staple

(c) 2006 Neville Thomas