Staines, Middlesex Genealogy

England   Middlesex

Parish History
STAINES (St. Mary), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of Spelthorne, county of Middlesex, 10 miles (W. S. W.) from Brentford, and 17 (W. S. W.) from London; containing 2487 inhabitants. This place has by some been thought to derive its name from a Roman milliarium, said to have been fixed here; and the traces of a Roman road pointing towards Staines bridge, mentioned by Dr. Stukeley, who also describes the town as having been surrounded by a ditch, may strengthen this conjecture. But the more general opinion is, that its appellation is derived from a stone which, standing on the bank of the Thames near it, marks the extent of the jurisdiction of the lord mayor of London, as conservator of the river; the stone bears date 1285, and was raised upon a pedestal, erected on the spot where it originally stood, in 1781. In 1009, an army of Danes, after having burned the city of Oxford, learning that troops were on the march from London in pursuit of them, retreated to their ships, and crossed the river at this place. Duncroft House, in which King John is said to have slept the night after he had signed Magna Charta on the neighbouring plain of Runymede, is in the parish. A forest anciently extended from Staines to Hounslow, but part of it has been inclosed. The town, which has been much improved of late, consists principally of one wide street, containing several good houses, terminating at the river. Here was formerly an iron bridge of one arch; but this being considered unsafe, a handsome stone bridge was opened in 1832, and a new street in a line with it. The town is lighted with gas from works situated on the opposite bank of the river, on the road to Egham. A building was erected near the bridge in 1835, for a literary and scientific institution. The market is on Friday; the market-house is a small edifice surmounted by a spire. There are fairs on May 11th and September 19th. The parish comprises 1822a. 2r. 21p., of which about 700 acres are arable, 600 meadow and pasture, and 454 common or waste. The living is a vicarage, with the livings of Laleham and Ashford annexed, valued in the king's books at £12. 3. 4., and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £425; impropriators, the family of Coussmaker. Attached to the vicarage are 59 acres of glebe in this parish, 16 in Laleham, and 26 in Ashford. The church is a neat structure, consisting of a nave, chancel, and north and south aisles, rebuilt in 1828, and a square embattled tower of brick, erected by Inigo Jones in 1631, and in 1829 raised twelve feet and surmounted with a battlement of stone crowned by pinnacles. There are places of worship for Baptists, the Society of Friends, and Independents. The poor-law union of Staines comprises thirteen parishes or places.

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 170-175. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51294 Date accessed: 05 May 2010.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
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Census records
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Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Middlesex Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
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Web sites
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