The etymology of the name appears to be the East town with a Steeple or Tower a Steeple or Stepull being simply a tower not necessarily attached to a church¹ although at the present time the word generally designates the Spire of a Church many instances may be cited of Villages bearing the prefix of Steeple in which no spire ever existed^b. The parish was probably named East from its situation in the eastern part of the ancient Hundred of Levecanole one of the divisions of the County named in the Doomsday survey or it may be in reference to its lying east of Steeple Barton a place of some importance in very early times Maiden Bower a spot in that parish well known to the foxhunter is a British earthwork the name being derived from the Celtic Maidian strong and beorgh fortress.^c. Near this ancient fortress and in the same parish within a stone's throw of the turnpike road to Oxford was till the latter part of the year 1843 the ruin of a Druidical altar called the Hoar stone [Map] which originally consisted of two side pieces and a lintel as at Rollright and Stonehenge this venerable relic of a by gone race was at the time I mention broken to pieces by the farmer in occupation of the field but the fragments were collected and piled together on the spot the altar had occupied by order of the proprietor Henry Hall Esq

Note a. MS note by JH Parker Esq

Note b. See Stevens's Description of Malmesbury Abbey which is said to have had two Steeples one a Pyramid the other a Tower also Harward's Digcourse of a feareful Lightening which on Nov 17 1606 did in a very short time burne up the Spire of the Steeple of Blechingley in Surrey and at the same time melt into infinite fragments a goodly ring of bells

Note c. Warton's History of Kiddington page 71 edit 1815.