Miss Marple Morton adapted the novel for the stage, he replaced the character of Caroline with a young girl. This change saddened Christie and she determined to give old maids a voice: Miss Marple was born. Christie may have taken the name from Marple railway station, through which she passed, or from Marple Hall, near her sister Madge's home at Abney Hall. The character of Jane Marple in the first Miss Marple book, "The Murder at the Vicarage", is markedly different from how she appears in later books. This early version of Miss Marple is a gleeful gossip and not an especially
Marple Hall School the house are still visible just outside the grounds of the school. These two figures give their names to the two main buildings of the modern school. The grammar school's first headmaster was Reginald Hill. The grammar school later had separate boys and girls schools. Marple Hall County Grammar School for Girls opened in 1965 and had 750 girls in 1967, and 1000 by 1971. Marple Hall Grammar School for Boys had 1000 boys in 1972. In 1967 the girls school had a six form entry. The head teacher of the girls school up to 1974 was Miss Una Drake.