Staple's beautiful church is dedicated to St. James The Great, Apostle and Martyr, and patron saint of all travellers and pilgrims. The church is mainly 14th & 15th Century, with a tower and East window of 13th Century origin. In the mid 1550's, the Vicar of Staple was John Bland. He was a fervent believer in the Protestant Faith (at the time of a Catholic Queen, Queen Mary). He was charged with herecy and burned at the stake in Martyr's Field, Canterbury, in July 1555.