Staines Urban District

Staines
Staines within Surrey in 1971
Area
• 1894	1,918 acres (7.8 km2)
• 1974	8,270 acres (33.5 km2)
Population
• 1901	6,688
• 1971	56,725
History
• Created	1894
• Abolished	1974
• Succeeded by	Spelthorne
Status	Urban district
• HQ	Staines
• Motto	AD PONTES PROSPICIMUS (AT THE BRIDGES WE LOOK FORWARD)
Subdivisions
• Type	Civil Parishes
• Units	Staines Civil Parish Ashford Civil Parish Laleham Civil Parish Stanwell Civil Parish

Staines was a local government district from 1894 to 1974 named after the English town of Staines.

Apart from the town of Staines itself which included a few rural pockets aside from its large moor until the 1940s, the district also covered the suburban settlements of Ashford and Stanwell and Laleham. In the far north, Stanwell and Staines Moor (collectively known as Staines Moor) formed the main agricultural area at the time of disbandment of the area. During its existence a significant amount of Staines Urban District's land was transferred to the Metropolitan Water Board to form two large reservoirs and a small percentage of a third. An aqueduct and pumping station were made c. 1902 when the Staines Reservoirs were constructed across the parish boundary in Stanwell, a main cemetery, in London Road was opened in 1911 by this authority and a cottage hospital in Kingston Road in 1914. Between the two wars building spread along the London Road, where the London Transport garage was opened in 1934. The chief area of development was to the south, around the Kingston and Laleham Roads. The 'bungalow town' of what were initially simply brick-built retirement properties with gardens in South Staines or the tithing of 'Penton' towards Penton Hook was in existence by 1919. By the demise of the area many of these plots had been transformed into the two-storey houses of London commuters and affluent workers. Between the Second World War and 1964 much of the remaining land in the south of the parish was built over. Many of the houses of Staines are detached or semi-detached, with some terraces dating from the 19th century A significant planned housing and population increase took place here as in the rest of the county during the existence of its County Council.

In 1894, under the Local Government Act 1894, Staines was changed to an urban district of Middlesex. It originally just covered the parish of Staines. In 1930 the civil parishes of Ashford, Laleham and Stanwell were added from the disbanded Staines Rural District.

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Wikipedia