English Place-name Society

Survey of English Place-Names

A county-by-county guide to the linguistic origins of England’s place-names – a project of the English Place-Name Society, founded 1923.

Stapenhill Fm

Early-attested site in the Parish of Blockley

Historical Forms

  • Stapenhull c.1300 EcclVar

Etymology

This is probably for stapol-hyll , i.e. 'hill marked by a staple or post of some kind,' v. stapol , hyll 1 . This conjecture is strengthened by the existence of a Stapulton Hulle (probably the same site) in the 1408 Survey of Blockley (EcclVar ). For the n cf. IPN 106.From the form one might take this name for OE  steapan hylle (dat.), 'steep hill,' but the topography puts this out of question.There are other examples of Stapenhill in Staffs, one two miles north-west of Stourbridge and the other in Burton-on-Trent, a mile to the south-east. Both of these are on well-marked hills and may well be 'steep hill.' Duignan (PN St 142) notes that the first of the Staffordshire Stapenhills is near the Staffordshire- Worcestershire boundary and takes the first element to be OE  stapol . It may be noted that Stapenhill in Burton is similarly on the Staffordshire-Derbyshire border, but as we have a form stapenh ' in BCS 773, it is unlikely that we have stapol here. The Worcestershire Stapenhill is on the boundary of the once independent vills of Paxford and Draycott in Blockley.