Stapleton (), is a small village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

on the

River Tees The River Tees (), in England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea in the North East of England. The modern-day history of the river has been tied with the industries ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, England. Historically, the settlement was part of the

North Riding of Yorkshire The North Riding of Yorkshire was a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point was at Mickle Fell at . From the Restoration it was used as a lieutenancy area, having b ...

Etymology

There is some dispute of the

etymological Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

origins of the place name Stapleton. Historian Henry Chetwynd-Stapylton (quoting

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson ( – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

) states in 1884 that the first part of the name, 'staple', originated from the word 'stapel' meaning a trading position or a place where goods for sale are stored. Another theory, however, puts forward that 'staple' originates from the

old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

word 'stapol' meaning boundary, which is also plausible given the villages past as a major river crossing. In both cases the second part of the name, 'ton', originates from the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

'tun' meaning settlement.

History

Stapleton was mentioned in the ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

'' of 1086. Though it has been known that a settlement has existed on this sharp bend in the river since the 9th century. The village and surrounding area were granted by

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

to a knight who would become known as Benedict de Stapleton. One member of the Stapleton family,

Miles Stapleton of Bedale Sir Miles Stapleton of Bedale (or of Cotherstone) Order of the Garter, KG (1320?–1364) was an English knight, and one of the Knights Founder of the Order of the Garter. Biography He was the eldest son of Sir Gilbert de Stapleton, Knt. (died 1 ...

was one of the founding members of the

Order of the Garter The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. The most senior order of knighthood in the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British honours system, it is outranked in ...

. The family built a manor in the village as well as a private chapel named after St James. In the 13th century the 'de Stapleton' family gave some lands around the village to the nearby

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular in the Catholic Chur ...

monks of

Easby Abbey Easby Abbey, or the Abbey of St Agatha, is a ruined Premonstratensian abbey on the eastern bank of the River Swale on the outskirts of Richmond in the county of North Yorkshire, England. The site is privately owned but maintained by English Heri ...

and in so doing forgoing the obligation to maintain a ferryboat across the river. The settlement had a second church known as St Leonard's, which was administered by Easby Abbey. Neither the manor nor either of the two churches exist today. However, local speculation suggests that the site of the manor is located in 'Garth Field', the irregularity of the land being the last remnants of a defensive

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

or pond. By 1616 the Stapleton family had left the village and the churches fell out of use, following this, the village was served by the 12th century

Church of St Peter Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

. This is thought to be the origin of the local name given to the path to the nearby village of Croft, the 'Corpse Walk', so named as the deceased of the village had to be carried from Stapleton to Croft, a distance of some three miles. During the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

period, a bridge linked the village to the northern bank of the river and a ferry had existed before that. It is believed that this gave the village's only public house (The Bridge Inn) its name. This bridge however was lost after a flood and was not replaced, meaning that the nearest crossing was at Croft-on-Tees until 1832 when the Blackwell Bridge was built. In 1945 the village was used as a filming location for the film ''Way to the Stars''. Until the second half of the 20th century the village was served by a post office, a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

and a public house. Only the latter is still in use.

Today

Stapleton was part of the former

and is today part of the

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

and district of

. From 1974 to 2023 it was in the district of

Richmondshire {{Infobox settlement , name = Richmondshire District , type = Non-metropolitan district , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = , image_blank_emblem= Richmondshire arms.png , blank_em ...

, it is now administered by the unitary

North Yorkshire Council North Yorkshire Council, known between 1974 and 2023 as North Yorkshire County Council, is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire, England. Since 2023 the council has been a unitary authority, being a county coun ...

. The village also lies within the Richmond Constituency, represented since 2015 by Conservative Party Member of Parliament and former

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Rishi Sunak Rishi Sunak (born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2022 to 2024. Following his defeat to Keir Starmer's La ...

. Residents use the GP surgery in Aldbrough St John and

Friarage Hospital Friarage Hospital is a 189-bed hospital located in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, England. The hospital covers a large section of rural North Yorkshire and the Vale of York which amounts to over 120,000 people in . The hospital is run by the So ...

in Northallerton.

Geography

Stapleton is situated above the banks of the Tees on the lower course of the river. In the locality of the village the river meanders through a fertile clay plain on its way the Tees Estuary. The settlement is predominantly surrounded by 'undulating'

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

land, which is used for both arable and

pastoral The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target au ...

farming. A notable feature of the nearby landscape is a prominent low escarpment, known as the 'Monkend Hills', which stretch from Croft to the east (taking their name from Monkend Hall) across to Manfield in west. From the top of Stapleton Bank, views can be seen towards the

North York Moors The North York Moors is an upland area in north-eastern Yorkshire, England. It contains one of the largest expanses of Calluna, heather moorland in the United Kingdom. The area was designated as a national parks of England and Wales, National P ...

Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales are a series of valleys, or Dale (landform), dales, in the Pennines, an Highland, upland range in England. They are mostly located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, but extend into C ...

and Upper Teesdale. Walkers following the long-distance walk known as the '

Teesdale Way The Teesdale Way is a long-distance walk between the Cumbrian Pennines and the North Sea coast of North Yorkshire in England. The walk is in length; it links in with other long-distance walks such as the Pennine Way and the E2 European Walk b ...

' pass through the village.

Gallery

File:Farmland at Stapleton.jpg, Panoramic view of farmland at Stapleton. The North York Moors can be seen in the distance. File:The Marquess of Zetlands Hounds at Stapleton, Richmondshire, North Yorkshire.jpg, The Marquess of Zetland's hounds at Stapleton village green in the 1870s. File:Stapleton 1430.jpg, Miles Stapleton, whose family took the name of the village and owned the surrounding lands it for many centuries. File:Stapleton Green in the Snow.jpg, Stapleton green in the snow. File:Grade II listed 19th Century cottages in Stapleton, Richmondshire, North Yorkshire.jpg, Grade II listed late Georgian cottages at the west end of the village green. File:Memorial to Captain Wilfred Thornton in Stapleton, Richmondshire.jpg, Memorial to Captain Wilfred Thornton on Stapleton village green.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in North Yorkshire Civil parishes in North Yorkshire