STAPLEHURST, a village and a parish in Maidstone district, Kent. The village stands near the Southeastern railway, 9 miles SSE of Maidstone; and has a head post-office, a r. station with telegraph, a hotel, and a fair on 11 Oct. The parish comprises 5,737 acres. Real property, £8,508. Pop., 1,695. Houses, 321. The property is much subdivided. S. Place is the seat of H. Hoare, Esq. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £1,200.* Patron, St. John's College, Cambridge. The church was restored in 1853. There are an Independent chapel, two Baptist chapels, an endowed school with £35 a year, and charities £28.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))