The village of Stapleford lies on a B road joining two major trunk roads — the A36 and the A303 positioned southwards between Stonehenge and the Iron Age Fort of Yarnbury. An ancient track way leads from the village directly to each. Stapleford is the Saxon name for a ford marked by a post or staple. It became the name for the strategic point where the road from Old Sarum to Bath crosses the River Till. The village, which was included in Domesday book and is crossed North-South by the river Till, has four parts, each built on a narrow strip of gravel. On the Till's East bank stand Church Street (named after its chief building) and Uppington Hamlet (now only two houses); on the West bank, Over Street and Serrington. In the eighteenth century the largest settlements were Church Street and Over Street, now perhaps they are Church Street and Serrington. West of the Till a small castle was built probably in the twelfth century by the Normans to guard the important crossing of the Till. It can still be seen as a tree-covered mound. Its deep ditch survives and also the site of the camp, now mostly covered by the buildings of Manor Farm. There were fishponds on the low ground east of the castle. Between the castle and the farm was a gate called the Slay Gate which was, perhaps, the entrance to the castle precincts. Tradition has it the lord of the manor was hanged there for murder of a priest in 1280. The lands of the village always appear to have been fertile for sheep and communal husbandry. In 1086 there were two water mills, the last not demolished until the mid-nineteenth century. It stood west of Serrington on the River Wylye.
The census of 1851 gave a good picture of village life in Victorian times, but is also an indication of what life would have been like for centuries before. In 1851 the village had 70 houses and a crossing of the Till. It can still be seen as a tree-covered mound. and a population of 300 (now about 115 and 250). Half the men were labourers. Apart from a handful of women —schoolmistress, milliner, victualler—most were housewives or employed in domestic activity in cottages and farms. There were ten tenanted farms working about 1,200 acres. The main road encouraged a few crafts: clockmaker, draper, carpenter, and blacksmith. The land had some good water meadows and farms, described by William Cobbett in 1826 as 'singularly fine'. They supported dairy cows and horses, but sheep were the money spinners. Life must have been austere. Families were large, seven or eight crowded into a cottage, the staple diet bread and cheese, meat a luxury for the breadwinner. Children then formed about 20% of the population (now perhaps half that). Many, when old enough, acted as bird scarers or stone pickers and helped with harvests.
The church is basically Norman with a wonderful arcade of ornamented arches resting on massive drum columns. It was much added to in the Middle Ages, the tower erected much later in the seventeenth century. The Victorians restored it heavily, but it still retains much of its beauty. It is surrounded by a large graveyard which allows good views of the Till valley.
From Norman times Stapleford Manor and its land were held by a succession of people including the Seymour’s, Dukes of Somerset The Seymour crest is displayed in the South window of the church. The church did not remain with the Seymours and for various reasons, in the sixteenth century the Dean and Canons of Windsor became patrons of the church and continue to be so.
This short History of Stapleford is extracted from the Village Design Statement dated May 2009 Version No.1 The Design Statement has been reviewed recently. Additional information please contact the Parish Clerk at the details shown below.
Carole Slater, Stapleford P/Clerk, Mob 07831 836 521
June 2023.
