STAPLEFORD, a parish in the hundred of FRAMLAND, county of LEICESTER, 4 miles (E. by S.) from Melton-Mowbray, containing 218 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Leicester, and diocese of Lincoln, rated in the king's books at £ 13, and in the patronage of the Earl of Harborough. The church, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, was erected in 1783, and contains some fine monuments of the Sherard family, among which is one by Rysbrach, in memory of the first Earl of Harborough. The river Wreake and the Melton-Mowbray and Oakham canal run through the parish. . Here is an endowed hospital.