Staple Inn

A Dictionary of London by Henry A Harben.

On the south side of Holborn Bars at No.2, outside the City boundary.


"Staple Inn in Holborne," 1595 (Lond. I. p.m. III. 289).

An Inn of Chancery appertaining to Gray's Inn.

Probably known formerly as: "Staple Hall." "le Stapledhalle "in the parish of S. Andrew de Holebourn, 1333-4 (Ct. H.W. I. 394). "le Stapelhalle," 9 H. IV. (Hust. Roll 135, No.14). An Inn of Chancery (S.393).

It appears from an old MS., temp. H. V., containing the orders and constitutions of the Society that it was in existence as an Inn of Chancery at that time, but for how long previously is not recorded. It was purchased by the Benchers of Grays Inn 1529.

Sold to the Prudential Assurance Co. in 1884, and now let as offices and chambers. The front to Holborn preserves the old style of Tudor domestic architecture and is a most interesting specimen of the period.

The use of the name " Staple Hall" has suggested that the building was originally used as a place of meeting by the merchants for wool, who were known as merchants of the Staple and had numerous meeting places throughout the country.

These meeting places are frequently mentioned in records, as Staple Inn at Calais, etc., but it does not appear from any of the records that the Inn at Holborn was one of these recognised meeting places.

The names" Staple Hall," " Stapeledehall " occur more than once in the City records, so that it may not be uninteresting to examine the origin and meaning of the word

staple " a little closely.

O.E. " stapel " = post, pillar, column, or (ii.) step, threshold. The word frequently occurs in old charters in the delimitations of boundaries. In Danish "stabel " = a boundary, stone, post. In Mid. E. it is defined as "a loop of iron for holding a pin or bolt."

Migne defines "Staplum" as "emporium," forum publicum" seu quod a mercatoribus domino fori solvitur, marché ou droit payé par les marchands an seigneur du lieu," and it came to this country in its sense of a mart or market through the O.F. "estaple," "estape " = a mart or general market, a public storehouse, etc.

The successive uses of the word seem to have been " post." " prop," or " support." stand for laying things on," " heap," " heaped wares," " storehouse," " market," "market town," and the sense of firmness, fixedness, runs through all these meanings. The early use of the name in the London records may have denoted a hall supported by posts or pillars. Later the word came to be applied to the markets where the great staple commodities of English trade, of which wool was the principal one, were sold, and finally to the commodity itself. But in the absence of definite evidence of the use of this Inn as a meeting-place for the merchants of the Staple, it would be rash to connect the origin of the name with this use. Sir Laurence Gomme suggests that it may have been so named from its proximity to the staples, which formed Holborn Bars.

A Dictionary of London by Henry A Harben.

← Staple Hall, Barking Church   ×   The Star →

Related Words