The Stafford knot, sometimes incorrectly referred to as the Staffordshire knot, is a distinctive three-looped knot that is the traditional symbol of the English county of Staffordshire and of its county town, Stafford. It is a particular representation of the simple overhand knot, the most basic knot of all.

The knot was the badge of the de Stafford family. The fanciful legend of its origin is that three convicted felons who had committed a crime together were due to be executed in Stafford gaol. There was argument over who should be hanged first but the hangman solved the problem by devising this knot and hanging the three simultaneously. However, the knot can be seen on a 4 ft (1.2 m) high carved Anglo-Saxon cross in a churchyard in Stoke-upon-Trent, and also on a 7th century Anglo-Saxon object from the Staffordshire hoard.[1] This strongly suggests it pre-dates the Norman and medieval period, being probably either a heraldic symbol of early Mercia or a Celtic Christian symbol brought to Staffordshire by missionary monks from Lindisfarne.