Staines-upon-Thames

Evidence of neolithic settlement has been found at Yeoveney on Staines Moor. There has been a crossing of the River Thames at Staines since Roman times. The emperor Claudius invaded Britain in AD 43. Staines was settled the same year. Within a decade, some sort of first Staines Bridge would have been needed for the Roman road later known as the Devil’s Highway between Londinium (London) and Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester). Pontibus, Latin for “at the bridges” in the early 3rd-century Antonine Itinerary, has long been guessed to refer to Staines, but that may be wrong since the Itinerary’s mileages actually point some distance away (possibly to the south end of Virginia Water Lake). More than one bridge might have traversed Church Island.. Ad Pontem was an altogether different place. The London Stone between the River Thames and Staines Old Town Hall

The Middlesex section of the Domesday Book records the manor “Stanes” as a property held by Westminster Abbey. It was stated to have 19 hides of land and had 6 mills worth £3, 4s, 0d; 2 weirs worth 6s, 8d; 24 ploughs; meadows for 24 ploughs; and some cattle. It rendered £35.

A boundary stone on the bank of the River Thames dated 1280 still remains, indicating the western limit of the City of London’s jurisdiction over the Thames. Although familiarly known as the ‘London Stone’, it is not to be confused with the more famous – and probably more ancient – London Stone in Cannon Street in the City of London. The Blue Anchor in the old Market Square: an 18th-century Queen Anne or early Georgian former pub

The barons assembled at Staines before they met King John at Runnymede in 1215, and Stephen Langton held a consecration there shortly after the sealing of Magna Carta. Sir Thomas More was tried in 1535 in a Staines public house, to avoid the outbreak of plague in London at that time. Kings and other important people must have passed through the town on many occasions: the church bells were rung several times in 1670, for instance, when the king and queen went through Staines. Between 1642 and 1648 during the Civil War, there were skirmishes on Staines Moor and numerous troop movements over Staines Bridge. The parish remained largely agricultural until the mid-19th century.