History

The Wanderer Returns To Staple

Page 4

Pevsner has written about Staple Church, which is dedicated to St James The Great.  In my time Mr Pengelly was the rector, living in a classically gothic Victorian vicarage, with a turret surmounted by a weathervane.  Later the church moved the vicar into a modern bungalow close to the driveway, but now the three benefices of Staple, Worth  and Woodnesborough are united, the rector being based at the latter.  Visitors should look out for the rare octagonal font in the East Anglian style, and the early one-handed clock, given to the church by Lady Lynch in 1789 and facing the driveway to Grove House, a manor which burned down not many years later.

Many improvements were done in the Rev. Albert Mapson's time (1951-63).  I recall large tortoise stoves, but these were replaced by electric tubular ad overhead convectors in 1960.  The church first got electricity in 1948.  Mr Mapson was quite an artist, restoring the numerals on the clock face.  The elaborate typewriter art in 'The Escallop', the parish magazine, was probably this vicar's distinctive contribution.  Eminent horologists have worked to restore the clock, which was finally wound electrically in 1883, saving much to-ing and fro-ing.  The visitor will also notice a fine, mid-seventeenth century lychgate and a war memorial erected in 1922.

The returning wanderer has noticed several other changes.  The Durlock stream, which feeds the Stour, is much more savoury than it was.  However, the windpump in a nearby field has vanished.  A family friend's home has been replaced by Layham's Nursery at Barnsole, and there is another nursery towards Summerfield.  The greater car-borne mobility has made such enterprises flourish these days.

In some ways, the passing in 1957 of Annie Pepper, widow of Tom Pepper, and the auction that came after at Groves, symbolised the end of an era.  A small-holding run by an old lady of eighty-four and one employee was hard labour, with no time for leisure.  The new village hall offers more opportunities for leisure for a wider age group.  My aunt moved to Cop Street before the WI was started in Staple (1954), but her successor as village voluntary librarian, Maureen Webb, also became WI President.  I too moved much further away for forty six years, but Staple is still recognisable as the same village, and neither suburbanised nor fossilised.  Perhaps the omission of Staple from those guide books is no bad thing.

BUS TIMES  �  POST-CODES  �  MAPS  �  BLACK PIG  �  THREE TUNS  �  FROG & ORANGE  �  LOCAL BUSINESSES � LAYHAM'S GARDEN CENTRE �  SUMMERFIELD NURSERIES �  STAPLE HISTORY �  VILLAGE CHURCH �  BARNSOLE VINEYARD �  STAPLE VINEYARD  � OLD PHOTO'S  � PICTURE TOUR  � GUESTBOOK  �   STAPLE-FORUM  � NEWS & UPDATES  �  LINKS  �  LOCAL COMMUNITY