{"id":2829,"date":"2025-10-30T15:00:01","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T15:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.local\/?page_id=2829"},"modified":"2025-11-06T10:08:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T10:08:12","slug":"rpt","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/?page_id=2829","title":{"rendered":"RPT"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"2829\" class=\"elementor elementor-2829\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-15ed5ad6 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"15ed5ad6\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-11932ec2 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"11932ec2\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Ralph Penniston Taylor<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-79ecc64f e-con-full e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"79ecc64f\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4456bddd e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"4456bddd\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-49089c72 elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"49089c72\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<button onclick=\"goBack()\">Go Back<\/button>\r\n\r\n<script>\r\nfunction goBack() {\r\n  window.history.back();\r\n}\r\n<\/script>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-70745bb elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"70745bb\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch1early-1.pdf\">Chapter 1.\u00a0 \u00a0The Early Years<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch2heriz-1.pdf\">Chapter 2.\u00a0 \u00a0The Heriz Family<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch3staplefords-1.pdf\">Chapter 3.\u00a0 \u00a0The Stapleford Families<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch4teverey-1.pdf\">Chapter 4.\u00a0 \u00a0The Teverey Family<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch5warren-1.pdf\">Chapter 5.\u00a0 \u00a0The Warren Family<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch6tithes-1.pdf\">Chapter 6.\u00a0 \u00a0The Tithes<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch7manorhouse-1.pdf\">Chapter 7.\u00a0 \u00a0The Manor House<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch8lesser-1.pdf\">Chapter 8.\u00a0 \u00a0The Lesser Families<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch9cross-1.pdf\">Chapter 9.\u00a0 \u00a0The Cross<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch10hemlock-1.pdf\">Chapter 10. The Hemlock Stone<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch11mill-1.pdf\">Chapter 11. The Mill<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch12constable-1.pdf\">Chapter 12. The Constables&#8217; Accounts<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch13peverel-1.pdf\">Chapter 13. The Honor of Peverel<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch14thirdborrow-1.pdf\">Chapter 14. The Thirdborrows<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch15enclosure-1.pdf\">Chapter 15. Enclosure<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch16field-1.pdf\">Chapter 16. Field Names<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch17inns-1.pdf\">Chapter 17. Inns and Alehouses<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch18church-1.pdf\">Chapter 18. Church<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch19misdeeds-1.pdf\">Chapter 19. Misdeeds and crimes<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch20lists-1.pdf\">Chapter 20. Lists, Rolls and Returns<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch21schools-1.pdf\">Chapter 21. Schools<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch22nonconformism-1.pdf\">Chapter 22. Nonconformism<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ch23houses.pdf\">Chapter 23. Houses<\/a><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/funeral-1.pdf\">Ralph&#8217;s biography<\/a><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-46cc5766 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"46cc5766\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-52abc1a elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"52abc1a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>In 1984 Ralph wrote to me, saying that he had produced 250,000 words on the history of Stapleford but doubted it would ever be published, as the cost would be prohibitive. Ralph died in 2001 in Wymondham, Leicestershire, where he was then living. At the wake afterwards, held in The Berkeley Arms\u2014where the first drink was on Ralph\u2014the possibility was raised with his executors that Nottinghamshire Archives might be interested in some of his papers. Contact was maintained over the following years, but it was not until February 2012 that we received a phone call from Bernard Bettinson, Ralph\u2019s executor, asking whether I would like to collect Ralph\u2019s papers\u2014and warning that I would need a van.<\/p><p>By that time Bernard had moved to the West Country, and it was not until April that we were able to collect the papers from a small village deep in Exmoor. After sorting through them, we managed\u2014fortunately\u2014to fit the Stapleford papers into the car boot and back seat, and brought them home for closer examination. Among them were numerous notebooks containing Ralph\u2019s notes and many old copies of documents from the Public Record Office, but the most important were the two histories of Stapleford that Ralph had written.<\/p><p>The first was composed between 1951 and 1956. It ran to 154 typewritten pages, bound in hard covers, and included a number of illustrations that later appeared in Ralph\u2019s A Collection of Views of Old Stapleford. Dissatisfied with this first version, Ralph began a second account\u2014the one reproduced here. Completed in 1975, it consists of 369 handwritten pages in nine spiral-bound notebooks.<\/p><p>This transcription follows Ralph\u2019s text exactly, but I have made three presentational changes. First, each chapter was written without subheadings; to make the text more accessible to those of us lacking Ralph\u2019s formidable powers of concentration, I have prefixed each paragraph with a few words indicating its subject. Ralph would probably not have approved of this \u2018dumbing down\u2019, but I hope it will help readers to follow the flow of his narrative. Second, Ralph inserted references to his sources in black ink within the main text, to distinguish them from the narrative itself, which he wrote in red. I have reformatted these as footnotes, using Ralph\u2019s wording, though in some cases I have been unable to identify the source. Third, where Ralph quotes directly from his sources, I have used a different font to distinguish the quotation from his own commentary.<\/p><p>Ralph was a remarkable man. No one knew more about life in medieval Stapleford than he did. His meticulous attention to detail enabled him to uncover information that had lain forgotten for more than seven centuries. He was equally at home working through the Latin charters of the Priory of Newstead\u2014some of which he was the first to translate\u2014the Inquisitiones Post Mortem, or the wills of the yeomen who farmed the village\u2019s open fields. We owe him a great debt, and it is a privilege to publish this history in a form he could never have imagined.<\/p><p>Both histories have been deposited with Notts. Archives.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-132d42f7 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"132d42f7\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4f447c2 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"4f447c2\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"wp-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"652\" height=\"795\" src=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rpt1.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-2752\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rpt1.png 652w, https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rpt1-246x300.png 246w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 652px) 100vw, 652px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"widget-image-caption wp-caption-text\">Ralph's first History of Stapleford<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4c3f3ff elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"4c3f3ff\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"wp-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"462\" height=\"601\" src=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rpt3.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-2751\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rpt3.png 462w, https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rpt3-231x300.png 231w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"widget-image-caption wp-caption-text\">A typical page from the  second History.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ralph Penniston Taylor Go Back Chapter 1.\u00a0 \u00a0The Early Years Chapter 2.\u00a0 \u00a0The Heriz Family Chapter 3.\u00a0 \u00a0The Stapleford Families Chapter 4.\u00a0 \u00a0The Teverey Family Chapter 5.\u00a0 \u00a0The Warren Family Chapter 6.\u00a0 \u00a0The Tithes Chapter 7.\u00a0 \u00a0The Manor House Chapter 8.\u00a0 \u00a0The Lesser Families Chapter 9.\u00a0 \u00a0The Cross Chapter 10. The Hemlock Stone Chapter 11. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2829","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_hostinger_reach_plugin_has_subscription_block":false,"_hostinger_reach_plugin_is_elementor":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2829"}],"version-history":[{"count":58,"href":"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3084,"href":"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2829\/revisions\/3084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staplefordlocalhistory.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}