Staines Moor

All of the foreground of this picture is Staines Moor with the exception of Staines upon Thames and the river on the right.
Three roads of dual carriageway size or greater adjoin (in one case passing through the south of the moor), including the widest part of the M25 London Orbital Motorway.

Grazing horses and cattle

The Colne and bulrushes

Staines Moor is a Site of Special Scientific Interest at the NW corner of Surrey, England. Approximately 2 km², it consists of natural pasture and the King George VI Reservoir. Three of the six main distributaries of the River Colne run southward through it. Staines Moor is between the western part of Staines-upon-Thames to the south and the village of Stanwell Moor, is the southern part of the Colne Valley regional park and is part of the parish of Staines.

Description

The moor consists of rich alluvial soil on a bed of clay, a soil which is much more thick and naturally fertile compared to most of the patchy humus in the topsoil in the large historic parishes to the east such as Ashford, Stanwell, Harmondsworth, Bedfont and Feltham, which have thin, less moist humus on gravel-rich clay, formed by the ancient terraces of the Thames in the same way as the inland parts of the riverside parishes. As such rich pasture is the primary use of the land. Meads would be a more accurate term, as moor implies stony land or waste (infertile land). In the far south of the area mill mead was between two stream channels of the river, where the shopping centre Two Rivers has been built.^[1]

The Staines Moor SSSI also includes King George VI Reservoir which is to the east. The reservoir carries nationally important wintering populations of tufted ducks, pochard, goosander and common goldeneye. The moor is separated from Wraysbury Reservoir to the west by the M25 and a footpath-accessible viaduct once used by the short-lived Staines and West Drayton Railway.^[2]

History

The moor has been common land since 1065, and anyone owning grazing animals who registers with the local authority, is entitled to graze stock on it. The traditional limit of livestock a person could leave to graze on the common was one horse and two cattle per head. Formerly the commoners were any people who lived in the parish of Staines, which since the mid-20th century has has three Church of England churches, whereas before the mid 19th century it had just one church, but the parish is unaltered save that it has been slightly increased in the east. Since these 20th century changes the part of the moor north of the A30 is indivisible from Stanwell Moor's actual moor occupying most of that late 20th century small village, which was before then a hamlet.^[1][3]

Its land covering 500 acres (2.0 km²) has been more than half-turned to water, by the construction of the King George VI Reservoir covering, including its large banks 350 acres (1.4 km²). Minor losses have taken belts of land on its western edge and in its southern third due to the M25 and A30 dual carriageway respectively.

Open fields in the open field system by it were on the west of Moor Lane, today occupied by the properties and smallholdings off Wraysbury road leading to J13 of the M25. This area was subject to enclosure (privatisation) by 1649. Most of the Staines fields, however, by the church and in the south of the parish, remained worked as open fields until 1845. While these two periods of privatisation occurred, the moor itself has never been subject to an Act of Enclosure and is the only common remaining mostly green space in the borough.^[1]

A rifle range was established in the 19th century and was moved to the Yeoveney land west of Moor Lane in c. 1891, but it was disused by 1933.^[1]

See also

• Staines-upon-Thames
• Water-meadow

Surrey portal Media related to Staines at Wikimedia Commons

References

External links

• Surrey County Council: map of SSSIs (.pdf file)

v t e Borough of Spelthorne Towns, villages and localities Ashford Ashford Common Charlton Laleham Littleton Lower Halliford Lower Sunbury Shepperton Staines-upon-Thames Stanwell Stanwell Moor Sunbury-on-Thames Sunbury Common Upper Halliford Key parks Ashford Park Rec. Ground Beechwood Rec. Ground Bishop Duppas Park Knowle Green Laleham Park Spelthorne Sports Ground Long Lane Rec. Ground Shortwood Common Staines Moor (Staines) Lammas Staines Park Sunbury Park Town Lane Rec. Ground Walled Garden, Sunbury Large listed buildings Churches All Saints, Laleham St Mary's, Staines St Matthews, Ashford St Mary, Stanwell St Mary Magdalene, Littleton St Nicholas, Shepperton Other Halliford School Laleham Abbey Littleton Manor The Old Manor House, Shepperton Shepperton Manor St Paul's College St James Senior Boys School Sunbury Court Education The Bishop Wand Church of England School Halliford School Matthew Arnold School St James Senior Boys School St. Paul's College, Sunbury-on-Thames Spelthorne College Staines Preparatory School Sunbury Manor School Thamesmead School Railway stations Ashford Kempton Park Shepperton Staines Sunbury Upper Halliford Buildings and structures Kempton Park Racecourse Kempton Park Reservoirs Kempton Park Steam Engines King George VI Reservoir Queen Mary Reservoir Shepperton Studios Staines Reservoirs Wraysbury Reservoir Thames Water Ring Main M3 motorway and Thames Crossing Staines Bridge Chertsey Bridge Walton Bridge Sport Football Ashford Town F.C. Spelthorne Sports F.C. Staines Lammas F.C. Staines Town F.C. Rugby London Irish RFC Staines Rugby Football Club Other Staines Boat Club Sunbury Cricket Club West Surrey Racing Destroyed landmarks Ashford Manor Astleham Church Stanwell Place Kempton Manor Sunbury Manor

Coordinates: 51°26′51″N 0°30′34″W / 51.4476°N 0.5095°W / 51.4476; -0.5095