Seal probably comes from the Anglian ‘syle’ meaning a ‘bog, a miry place’; therefore,
‘miry place’. The Domesday Book chronicles Seal as Lasela.
Seal parish church is a Grade: I listed building, dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint
Paul. The Normans first built the church in the 13th century, with considerable rebuilding
in the 15th and early 16th centuries, including the tower in 1520-29. In the late
14th century William Burford cast and hung a bell, Stephen Swan added a tenor in
1609, and in 1660, John Hodson cast two more. Lester and Pack completed five bells
in 1758. In the 19th century, an unknown architect greatly enlarged the church with
the lengthening of the north arcade. John Warner augmented the bells to six with
a treble in 1886
