Hextable

Hextable is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It lies 2 miles north of Swanley and 4 miles south of Dartford.

Its first documented appearance is in 1203 when the land is referred to as Hagestaple. Staple is from the Old English word "stapol," or boundary post. This makes perfect sense as the land was on the boundary of the Saxon settlements of Dartford, Bromley and Sutton at Hone. The word Hage is less clear. One theory is that it is descended from the O.E. word for high: "Hey." But the land on the Birchwood side of Hextable, where the post would have been, is not high, at least compared with nearby Rowhill and Swanley Village, and it is hard to see how Hage would have derived from Hey. The O.E. word "hage" meant a hedge, an enclosure or hawthorn, any of which could have been a means of uniquely delineating the boundary post in some way. The means by which Hagestaple became Hextable is in contrast well-documented:

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