Staple port

A staple port is a port designated by a government or monarch as a place where specific goods may be exported or imported.

The most famous example was the English wool staple, often simply known as 'the staple', which was exclusively designated by the English crown as the port of import to Continental Europe of raw wool sent from England. From 1363 to 1558, this was at Calais.

The 1353 Statute of the Staple named the following staple ports: Newcastle upon Tyne, Hull, Saint Botolph (Boston), Great Yarmouth, London, Sandwich, Chichester, Southampton, Exeter, and Bristol, in England, as well as Dublin, Waterford, Cork, and Drogheda in Ireland. In Wales, the designated staple town was Carmarthen.

See also