Staple Hundred
Hundred in the County of Wiltshire
Historical Forms
- Staple, Stapla hundred 1086 ExonDB
- Stapele 1187 P
- Hundred de Stapele 1196 Cur 1198 Abbr
- Stapel 1255 RH 1259 Ass 1297 Ipm
- Stapelee 1275 RH
- Stapele 1316 FA
- Steeple Piece (c. 1840 TA)
Etymology
From OE stapol, 'post, pillar.' The site of the Hundred meeting-place must have been in Purton, for we have reference to Staple Cross Way in Purton (1631 WIpm). Possibly the name is preserved in Steeple Piece (c. 1840TA ), a field just to the north of Purton Church.There was another stapol further west, on the parish boundary, called le Westapele (BCS 279).