Stapleford is a village and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The village lies in the Beane valley, on the A119 road about 3 miles (5km) north of the county town of Hertford, and 1.5 miles (2km) south of Watton-at-Stone village. Waterford, another riverside settlement, is in the south of the parish.
History
The placename occurs as Stapelford in an Exchequer document of 1210, lending weight to Walter William Skeat's suggestion that the site of a ford crossing the Beane was marked by an upright stake, in Anglo-Saxon stapel.[1]
In the 1887, John Marius Wilson described Stapleford as:
"a parish in the district and county of Hertford; 2¾ miles N of Hertford r. station. It has a post-office under Hertford. Acres, 1,319. Real property, £1,622. Pop., 226. Houses, 45. The property is all in one estate. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £280. Patron, A Smith, Esq. The church was repaired and enlarged in 1852. There is a national school.[2]
In 1831, the majority of males were labourers and servants.[3]
Stapleford's population was 567 at the 2011 census: 286 males and 281 females.[4]
Statistics
In the 1880s majority of the men's occupation was within agriculture, whereas women were more into the domestic service. The professional occupation had the fewest people working within that sector for both genders.[5] According to the Office of National Statistics,[6] 67% of Stapleford's population are Christian, 26% classify themselves as nonreligious, 5% did not state their religious preference and the rest are the other religions. The statistics[7] show that the people of Stapleford generally had very good health with 299 out of 567 classified as having very good health and the next big group having good health. As a whole the health rate is high, despite the 18 individuals who either have bad health or very bad health. The health rate in this area suggests that the village has very good health care sector. Lastly, information published by the 2011 Census stated that the largest ethnic group was White British, as[8] 537 out of 567 people are of this ethnicity showing that the village was not multicultural.
Map of Stapleford, Ordnance Survey of Great Britain New Popular Edition, 160
Occupation
From the Occupational Structure of Males piechart, it is seen that in 1881, 57% of the men's occupation was within agriculture showing that the area was rural. There were other occupations during that time but not as major as the agricultural sector. Within the Occupational structure for Females, 51% are in an Unknown Occupation; this is most likely classified as being a housewife which would be common during these times, as majority of other work was very physical, thus the demanding jobs would be for men. The next sector with the highest percentage of females was within Domestic Service.
Occupations of males reported by the census reports from Vision of BritainOccupations of females reported by the census reports from Vision of Britain
Population
Census reports[9] from 1880s to 2011 have illustrated within the "Total Population of Stapleford" graph that during 1880 to 1920 the parish population was around 200. Thereafter, population more than doubled to 500 by 1960, and by 2011 had reached 567.
Total population of Stapleford Parish, Hertfordshire, as reported by the Census of Population from 1881 to 2011
Transport
The Hertford loop line runs through the parish, passing close to the west of Stapleford village. Stapleford station was just north of the bridge over the main road, but was only open from 1924 to 1939.
2011 census data shows that only 19 out of 229 households did not have a car or van. On the other hand, many households had more than one, with 105 households having two cars or vans.[10]
Economy
The economic activity within Stapleford of 2011 according to National Statistics shows that for females[11] of working age, 24% were in part-time work, 28% full-time, 9% in self-employment, while 37% were economically inactive and around 2% of the population were unemployed. The case is different for men in this village as 80% of them were economically active.[12]
Parish church
The Church of England parish church is dedicated to St Mary.[13] The building was begun in the mid-12th century, altered in later centuries, and restored and enlarged in 1874. It was designated as Grade II* listed in 1966.[14]
References
↑ Skeat, The Place-names of Hertfordshire, 1904:27f.
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