History of Staines-upon-Thames

History of Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey, England

Modern terracotta relief in London Road, Staines, representing the town's Roman history

• 3000 BC — Neolithic settlement at Yeoveney Manor Farm by Staines Moor
• 43 — First Staines Bridge built by the Roman Empire
• 1009 — Sweyn Forkbeard's Danish army, which had been harrying (plundering) the Upper Thames valley, is said to have crossed the river at Staines in order to avoid an English force assembling in London^[1]
• 1086 — Domesday Book provides first economic survey of the country. Staines appears on the Middlesex domesday map and in its own record as Stanes, held by Westminster Abbey, having 24 hides of arable land, 6 mills worth £3 4s 0d, 2 weirs worth 6s 8d, meadow of 24 ploughs, and an unspecified number of cattle, it rendered £35 to its overlords. Foremost among these was the Abbey mentioned, as at the Norman Conquest.^[2][3]
• 1215 — Barons and Earls forced King John to seal Magna Carta at Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, some of the signatories stayed at Staines before signing
• 1222 — Staines Bridge was first mentioned after that of Roman times, when the king gave a tree from Windsor Forest for its repair.^[4]
• 1285 — Famous landmark, the London Stone, installed to mark western limit of the City of London's jurisdiction over the River Thames. It originally stood upstream from Staines town centre and a replica marks the spot while the original undergoes restoration
• 1603 — Sir Walter Raleigh committed for trial for treason at Staines

The first secular (and non-royal) owner, of the land representing most of the parish since the Norman Conquest, was Thomas Knyvet, 1st Baron Knyvet.

He arrested Guy Fawkes in the cellar of the Houses of Parliament when Fawkes was planting explosives to kill King James VI and I and was convicted of high treason while rough justice was dispensed on others alleged to have conspired. Knyvet's actions and those of the Catholic peer who was forewarned, and Edward Doubleday in preventing this intended murder are celebrated annually on Bonfire Night.

He was often seated in his earlier acquisition at Stanwell Manor, Stanwell and rented Knyvett House on the site of what later became 10 Downing Street, Westminster.

• 1613 — Following seizure by Henry VIII and a temporary grant to Sheen Priory the manor was granted to the arrester in the Gunpowder Plot Thomas Knyvet(t), who was elevated to the peerage. He left the manor to his nephew of the same name.^[4]
• 1618 — A brief was issued authorising the collection of money in churches in the southern counties "for repairing the bridge and causeway"; the following year the tolls raised under its first Act of Parliament of 1509 raised an amount short of that required: £24 equivalent to £4,269 in 2015
• 1629 — Manor sold to Knyvet's relative Sir Francis Leigh of Puttenham staying with this second family of lay owners until 1669
• 1669 — Sir William Drake bought the manor, held it for ten years and then sold it to Richard Tayler, in whose family it remained, with substantial sales of part, until 1890. The Middle Ages manor house was abandoned before 1600 and Richard Taylor (d.1792) sets up the Lord of the Manor's main residence at Charlton House, Charlton 2.5 miles (4.0 km) east.^[4]
• 1725 — Staines Bridge was rebuilt in stone under and Act of six years before but collapsed almost immediately.^[4]
• 1725 — The landless rectory providing substantial tithes over almost the whole parish was acquired by John de Coussmaker of Normandy, Surrey who fled Holland with the late King (William of Orange and William III of England)^[4][5]

As in the main period of Roman occupation of Britain, Staines Bridge was the main crossing on the road from London to much of Hampshire and to the south-western counties (excluding their northern parts such as Gloucestershire, north Somerset and north Wiltshire which could be accessed via the Bath Road).
It returned to use for transport to Salisbury, Winchester, north Hampshire, Southampton, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall from at least 1222 until the late 1940s. The town then became bypassed by long-distance road traffic using the Runnymede Bridge (1961) designed by Edwin Lutyens. It further became bypassed by long-distance traffic after the construction of the M4 in England in 1971 and most of the M3 by 1974.

• 1832 — The second stone version of Staines Bridge, its current version, was officially opened by King William IV (formerly the Duke of Clarence, and Clarence Street is laid out the High Street's realigned new western continuation).
• 1842 — The tithes were commuted by a payment and award of land to the Coussmaker family.^[4]
• 1848 — Railway line from London Waterloo to Staines opened. It was extended in 1856 to Reading, Berkshire and with short other extensions to Windsor, to Chertsey and a defunct line to West Drayton.
• 1851 — Staines Boat Club was founded
• 1856 — The Staines, Wokingham & Woking Junction Railway opened the line between Staines and Wokingham on 9 July. The London and South Western Railway (LSWR) acquired the railway and services continued via a straight line of the South Eastern Railway (UK) to Reading where the line forms a connection with the Great Western Main Line, providing a rival route and useful transport connections to towns in the west and Midlands.^[6]
• 1862 — Opening of the Staines Linoleum Company, founded by businessman Frederick Walton, to produce his new invention of Linoleum floor covering.
• 1890 — Staines Hockey Club was formed, making it one of the oldest hockey clubs in the World. Its early years were very illustrious with several internationals playing for the club and a number of gold medals won by Staines members in the 1908 Olympic Games
• 1892 — Staines Town Football Club formed as Staines Albany

St Peter's parish church, designed by George Fellowes Prynne and built 1892–94 with the aid of Sir Edward Clarke

• 1894 — Staines Urban District created, superseding the responsibilities of the Sanitary District and parish
• 1901 — Twin Staines Reservoirs in Stanwell and Staines parishes built by the Metropolitan Water Board, to provide consistent quality and supplies of drinking water for London
• 1906 — The American Wilbur Gunn founded the British car maker Lagonda in Staines, which completed its forst cars that year
• 1908 — The first Scout Troop in Staines was formed, the 1st Staines & Egham Hythe Troop
• 1919 — The British car maker Tamplin was founded in 1919 in Staines, and named after its founder, Edward Tamplin
• 1935 — 24 Hours of Le Mans car race was won by a 4.5 litre Lagonda car built at Staines
• 1957 — Yeoveney Manor, from inception a farm of Westminster Abbey (who kept the medieval rights until the 20th century), was farmed by tenants, Greenwood Bros, reduced slightly to 150 acres — earlier in the century a rifle range for training was set up here.
• 1961 — Sir Edwin Lutyens's Runnymede Bridge opened to allow the A30's Staines Bypass to allow traffic from London to the south-west to bypass the town.^[7]
• 1965 — Staines Urban District was transferred from Middlesex to Surrey
• 1965 — Staines West railway station closed. The station building survives intact and is Grade II listed. A section of track and buffer stop survive. The platform area is now part of a car park.
• 1972 — British European Airways Trident One jet airliner crashed on 18 June alongside the Staines bypass killing all 118 passengers and crew
• 1974 — Staines Urban District is merged with Sunbury-on-Thames Urban District to form Spelthorne Borough and building commences on expanded council offices at Knowle Green, Staines
• 1980 — The Elmsleigh Centre shopping centre was opened by HM The Queen
• 1990 — Spelthorne Leisure Centre, Knowle Green was opened
• 1993 — The disused Old Town Hall was converted to an Arts Centre. It was officially opened on 15 April 1994 by actor and director Kenneth Branagh.
• 1996 — Planning permission was granted for Two Rivers shopping centre, cinema and gym in Staines Town Centre
• 2002 — Ali G from the town released his debut film Ali G Indahouse. Much of the filming was in Staines.
• 2005 — Hard-Fi's debut album Stars of CCTV was released and nominated for the Mercury Music Prize
• 2006 — Hard-Fi's success continued as the group followed a sold-out tour of the UK with two BRIT Award nominations
• 2012 — Following other examples, the town's official name changes from Staines to Staines-upon-Thames on 20 May 2012^[8]

Most relevant neighbouring settlement events

• 1803 — Richard Bingham, 2nd Earl of Lucan acquired Laleham Manor, Laleham Park, Laleham; the family later acquire some land in the parish of Staines.
• 1886 — Royal Holloway, University of London was founded by Thomas Holloway and opened by Queen Victoria on far side of less developed or urbanised Egham, Surrey.
• 1925 — Queen Mary Reservoir opened in former rural village of Littleton but close to town centre of Ashford
• 1971 — M4 motorway opened through Berkshire, using the Maidenhead bypass built in 1961 to ease demand for the A4 route and to cater to an expected increase in motorised private and goods transport
• 1974 — M3 motorway opened through Surrey for the above reason and to ease demand for the Staines bypass and A30 route.
• 1976 — Queen Mother Reservoir opened in rural villages of Horton and Wraysbury
• 1985 — M25 opened, in the parishes of Wraysbury and Egham and became nicknamed after the nearest large town "the Staines section and junction".

References