EXTRACTS FROM

THE DIARY OF RICHARD STAPLEY, GENT.

OF HICKSTEAD PLACE, IN TWINEHAM,

FROM 1682 TO 1724;

WITH A NOTICE OF THE STAPLEY FAMILY.

PARTLY READ AT THE LEWES MEETING, 1848.

BY THE REV. EDWARD TURNER.

THE family to which the writer of the following Diary belonged was an ancient and distinguished one in the county of Sussex, the Stapleys coming probably from Battle. In the Battle Abbey deeds the names of Staplehithe and Staplegh frequently occur, and a hundred near Battle is called the hundred of Staple.

It is quite certain that a branch of this family, if not the original family itself, had established itself at Framfield towards the close of the fifteenth century; for among the earliest entries in the registers of that parish, which commence with the year 1539, the name of Stapley occurs, and here this branch appears to have continued till 1625 or 1626, when Anthonie Stapley, a lineal descendant, removed with his family to Patcham, having about that time purchased Patcham Place of Henry Shelley, Esq., whose family, upon their removal from Patcham, established themselves at Lewes. It is also equally certain that another branch of the Stapleys settled soon after at Hickstead Place in Twineham, Richard Staplegh having succeeded Thomas Lord La Warr in this property early in the sixteenth century, probably in 1526, when this illustrious and patriotic nobleman died.

The Framfield branch of the Stapleys was first brought into historical notice by the very active and conspicuous part taken in public affairs by Anthonie, the eldest son of the first pos

sessor of the Patcham estate, in the rebellious period in which he lived. So violent indeed were his antimonarchical feelings, that his name is to be found among the number of those who eventually signed the death warrant of Charles I. Clarendon, in speaking of him and of the family generally, which he says were "of good extraction and of a good estate in Sussex, calls him "one of the blackest offenders." In the last session of James the First, and the first of Charles the First, he represented the borough of New Shoreham in parliament, and was afterwards elected one of the burgesses of the shire, sitting as such in the Long Parliament. He was also governor of Chichester. His wife was sister to the Earl of Norwich. This branch became extinct in the male line by the death of Anthonie's grandson, Herbert, the only son of Sir John Stapley, who was knighted, and afterwards, as Stapeley of Patcham, was, on July 28, 1660, created a baronet by Charles II, for the active part which he took in effecting his restoration.

With regard to the Hickstead branch, although they were certainly connected with that of Framfield, the only evidence bearing on the subject is a tradition still extant in Framfield, that Richard Staplegh, the first possessor of the Hickstead estate, previously resided at Buxted, which seems not improbable, as, by his will, proved at Lewes, after directing his body to be buried in the churche of St. Peter at Twineham, against the place where he accustomyd to knele,* and a greater stone to be laid on himself, and the lesser stone upon his wyff;" and after bequeathing" to the roode light of Twyneham xijd, "to the sepulcre a taper of iij lbs. of wax,' "to the light of our Ladye at Twyneham xijd, (which he afterwards revokes and gives to the poor of the parish,) and to the light of our Ladye at Bolney xijd, he gives "to the churche of Buxted vj3 viijd,” and “ to the churche at Uckfield iijs ivd."

Many a trait of character," says Lord Lindsay, "may be read in the language and provisions of a will of the olden time, in which, it has been well observed, it is no proof of our improved taste, any more than of our improved virtue, that we have so entirely ceased to imitate them." Then follow these striking extracts from the will of one of his many good and great ancestors: "Should my death occur in or near Edinburgh, I desire that my body should be buried in the Abbey kirk * if at St. Andrewes, in St. Leonard's kirk; if at Balcarras, in the kirk at Kilconquhar, under my own seat * and I would request my friends and bairns rather to

*

be merry, nor to make lamentation for my decease, and to think that their lamentation will do me na guid, nor cannot be foundet upon ony guid reason gif they hope that I will be in a guid estate."-(Lives of the Lindsays, vol. i, p. 192.)

The Stapleys of Hickstead were Royalists, but this, as well as the Patcham branch, is now extinct in the eldest direct male line, the present possessor of the Hickstead estate being descended from it through a female.

That the house at Hickstead was once much larger than it is now there can be no doubt. A building of peculiar construction, called the Castle, still remains, situated at a short distance from the present residence, which is of much greater antiquity than the present house. Probably, like Isfield Place, the residence in bygone days of the Shirleys, and some other Sussex mansions, Hickstead House was reduced in size, as the estate once attached to it was reduced also.

Richard, the author of the Diary, was the third son of Anthonie Stapley, who died 1667. Judging from his Diary, which is an interesting record of his every-day life, he was a man of unostentatious and frugal habits; a bachelor residing with his mother, who survived her husband many years; an excellent friend and neighbour to all around him; a man who seldom moved from home, and a most methodical and accurate accountant; for he not only records who were the witnesses of his various money transactions, but also where they took place, whether at the horseblock or in the open fields; in the kitchen, hall, or parlour; nay, he has more than once thought fit to state at what particular table, and at which end of it, a particular receipt or payment took place.

The pedigree of this ancient family, in its different branches, may be obtained authentically from the Framfield registers, from monumental inscriptions in Twineham church, from a visitation made in 1634, and from records and papers in the possession of the present proprietor of the estate, who has kindly allowed me an examination of them. It is to be regretted that the Twineham register cannot be made available in furnishing us with dates, or in extending our knowledge of the Hickstead branch of the family, the earlier registers having been wantonly destroyed by some midnight plunderers, who, having broken into the church, and being disappointed in their expectations of finding the communion plate, which had been presented to the church by a member of the Stapley family, wreaked their vengeance on these parish records, by taking them away, and throwing them into a pit of water, commonly called the Church Hole.

PEDIGREE OF THE STAPLES, OR STAPLEYS,

OF FRAMFIELD,

(For the name is variously spelt-Staplegh, Staple, Stapley, and Staplye,) taken chiefly from the Framfield Registers.

illiam, Herbert Alicia, Philadelphia, Anne, Elizabeth, Barbarathe,

1671, M.P. for

1672. Seaford

1678,

d'of Sir

Richa

=

b. 1642. b. 1653, b. 1657. = Peter ob.1657. = John Culpe- Courthope, b. 1656, per,Kt. Esq. of Danny, 1667.

Margaret,

ob.1698.

William,

b. 1676.

b. 1677.

Both died young.

Briggs,
LL.D. of
Chiches-

ter.

Jane,

in Wivelsfield.

Anne, b. 1624,

ob. 1644.

Barbara, Sybilla,

In the Patcham register is also the following entry: "1694-5, 21st of ffeb", Mrs. Douglas Stapley, of St. Michael's, Lewes, died, and was buried 25th." To this Douglas Stapley I am unable to assign a place in the above pedigree. He was probably brother to Anthonie, the regicide, though the name does not occur in the Framfield register.

In the years 1653, 4, 5, and 6 are records in the Patcham register of many marriages at Patcham, of persons belonging to other parishes, bringing certificates of their purpose of marriage having been published "on three several Lord's days," or" at market-places, on three market days," or "according to act of parliament;" some of which were performed by John Stapley, Esq., justice of the peace.

By the marriage of James Wood with Martha Stapley, as shown in the following pedigree, he became (jure uxoris) Lord of Hickstead and Twineham; and by the death of their eldest son, s. p., the estate and manor passed to John Wood, the present possessor.

:

With regard to the armorial bearings of the Stapleys, it appeared to have varied at different times. Those of the Framfield branch were arg. on a fesse engr. erm. between three hurts, two dragons' heads erased, or: crest-a demy hairy savage, girt round the body with a girt, gules: rimmed and studded, or thereto a chain of the last, holding in his hands a staple (a play upon the name) the points downwards, or and those of the Patcham and Hickstead branches-gules, three boars' heads erased within a bordure engrailed, argent: creston a wreath, a stag at gaze, argent, attired, or. When the change took place is uncertain, probably upon the knighthood of Sir John, or his being created a baronet. The only allusion I can find in the family records to the subject of armorial bearings is in a mem. of Richard Stapley, a later member of the family. It is dated March 25th, 1724, and is as follows: "Then I began to wear my ring, with the coat of arms on it, three boars heads erased."