Origins
The Tapsel family first was recorded in Sussex in 1577, when the churchwardens in the parish of West Tarring paid for some church bells. The surname was recorded as "Topsayle" and many other variant spellings have been recorded subsequently: Tapsell, Tapsil, Tapsayle, Tapsaille, Topsil and Topsel. As a result, the name of the gate sometimes is spelled differently. Several generations of the family worked as bell-founders and rope-makers from a foundry in Tarring, although they travelled throughout Sussex to undertake repairs and cast new bells.
Research suggests the most likely inventor of the Tapsel gate was John Tapsel (or Tapsell), who lived in Mountfield near Battle in the early 18th century, although this is not known for certain. The first record of a Tapsel gate is in the churchwarden's accounts book from St. Pancras Church at Kingston near Lewes. An accounting entry in 1729 notes that 1s. 6d. was paid by the church for the installation of a gate in its churchyard.
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