The name Staines is thought to derive from
Old English for 'stones', due to a long-lost site of monoliths in nearby
Stanwell. Others believe the name to derive from 'St Anne's in the
Thames'.
There has been a bridge since Roman times (hence the Roman name of the
town Pontes). Claudius led the Romans into Britain in 43 AD and they
settled in Staines the same year. Soon after this invasion the first
Staines Bridge was constructed to provide an important Thames crossing
point on main road from Londinium (London) to Calleva Atrebatum, near
the present-day village of Silchester.
A border stana, or stone, on the bank of the River Thames, dated 1280,
still remains, indicating the western limit of the City of London
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 situation of Staines as a major crossing point over the River
Thames, its position on the main road from London to the southwest, and
its proximity to Windsor has led to the town being involved in national
affairs. The barons assembled there before they met King John at
Runnymede in 1215, and Stephen Langton held a consecration there shortly
after the issue 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.
During the period 1642–48 there were skirmishes on Staines Moor and
numerous troop movements over Staines Bridge during the Civil War.
A statue to the linoleum factories of the 19th Century Staines was the
major producer of linoleum, a type of floor covering, after the
formation of the Linoleum Manufacturing Company in 1864 by its inventor,
Frederick Walton. Linoleum became the main industry of the town and was
a major employer in the area up until the 1960s. In 1876 about 220 and
in 1911 about 350 people worked in the plant. By 1957 it employed some
300 people and in 1956 the factory produced about 3,200 sq yd. of
linoleum each week. The term 'Staines Lino' became a world-wide name but
the factory was closed around 1970 and is now the site of the Two Rivers
shopping centre. A bronze statue of two lino workers in Staines High
Street commemorates the Staines Lino Factory. The Spelthorne Museum in
Staines has a display dedicated to the Linoleum Manufacturing Company.