Staines Hotels

Staines is a Thames-side town in the Spelthorne borough of Surrey and part of the London Commuter Belt of South East England. It is a suburban development within the western bounds of the M25 motorway and located 17 miles west south-west of Charing Cross in LondonThere has been a crossing of the River Thames at Staines since Roman times. The emperor Claudius sent the Romans into Britain in 43 A.D 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 Londin to Calleva Atrebatum, near the present-day village of Silchester. The Roman name for Staines was implying that there was more than one bridge and it is believed that these bridges traversed Church Island. Staines appears on the Middlesex domesday map in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Stanes. It was held by Westminster Abbey. Its domesday assets were: 19 hides. It had 6 mills worth £3 4s 0d, 2 weirs worth 6s 8d, 24 ploughs, meadow for 24 ploughs, and some cattle. It rendered £35.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.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 StainesDuring the period 1642–48 there were skirmishes on Staines Moor and numerous troop movements over Staines Bridge during the Civil War.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 2.675 m2. of linoleum each week. The term 'Staines Lino' became a worldwide 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.Staines was the site of the Staines air disaster in 1972, at the time the worst air crash to have occurred on British soil, until the Lockerbie disaster of 1988. The crash was commemorated in June 2004, with the opening of a dedicated garden, created at the request of relatives, near to the crash site, and the unveiling of a stained glass window at St. Marys Church, where a memorial service was held.