Staines Bridge is a road bridge running in a south-west to north-east direction across the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

 in Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

. It is on the modern A308 road

A308 road

The A308, is a road in England in two parts.*The Brompton to Fulham section starts at the A4 road by Brompton Oratory and Victoria and Albert Museum, and follows Fulham Road South West to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, where it jumps south a block to follow Kings Road to meet the A219 road in...

 and links the boroughs of Spelthorne

Spelthorne

Spelthorne is a local government district and borough in Surrey, England. It includes the towns of Ashford, Laleham, Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell and Sunbury...

 and Runnymede

Runnymede (borough)

Runnymede is a local government district with borough status in the English county of Surrey. It is a very prosperous part of the London commuter belt, with some of the most expensive housing in the United Kingdom outside of central London, such as the Wentworth Estate.Runnymede is entirely...

 at Staines

Staines

Staines is a Thames-side town in the Spelthorne borough of Surrey and Greater London Urban Area, as well as 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...

 and Egham Hythe

Egham Hythe

Egham Hythe is a place between Egham and Staines in Surrey, England, extending south of the River Thames towards Thorpe Lea , and includes the area surrounding Pooley Green...

.

The bridge crosses the Thames on the reach between Penton Hook Lock

Penton Hook Lock

Penton Hook Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England situated on the northern "Middlesex" bank near Laleham, Surrey.The lock cuts across a large loop or hook in the river, creating Penton Hook Island There is a large marina in the disused gravel pits connected to this loop...

 and Bell Weir Lock

Bell Weir Lock

Bell Weir Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England situated on the Surrey bank near Egham. It is just upstream of the M25 Runnymede Bridge which carries the M25 and A30 road across the river...

, and is close to and upstream of the main mouth of the River Colne

River Colne, Hertfordshire

The Colne is a river in England which is a tributary of the River Thames. It flows mainly through Hertfordshire and forms the boundary between the South Bucks district of Buckinghamshire and the London Borough of Hillingdon...

, a tributary. The bridge carries the Thames Path

Thames Path

The Thames Path is a National Trail, opened in 1996, following the length of the River Thames from its source near Kemble in Gloucestershire to the Thames Barrier at Charlton. It is about long....

 across the river.

History

In Roman

Roman conquest of Britain

The Roman conquest of Britain was a gradual process, beginning effectively in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, whose general Aulus Plautius served as first governor of Britannia. Great Britain had already frequently been the target of invasions, planned and actual, by forces of the Roman Republic and...

 times, Staines lay on an important Roman road

Roman road

The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...

 connecting London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 with Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester). The Roman name for Staines was "Pontes" (plural bridges) implying that there was more than one bridge and it is believed that these bridges traversed Church Island

Church Island, River Thames

Church Island is an island in the River Thames in England on the reach above Penton Hook Lock, near Staines Bridge in Staines, Spelthorne, Surrey. It connects by a footbridge to Church Street, Staines, near a recreation ground....

.

A wooden

Lumber

Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....

 bridge was referenced as early as 1228, and required regular repair. It was put out of use during the Civil War. Under an act of 1791, a stone

Masonry

Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...

 bridge was built a little way downstream of the old one, the latter being retained. The central arch of this bridge cracked almost immediately and a third bridge of iron was completed in 1803. This failed and a fourth bridge, also of iron was opened in 1807. The old wooden bridge, which had continued in service, was then pulled down. The fifth and present bridge with three arches in white granite was designed by George Rennie

George Rennie (engineer)

George Rennie was an engineer born in London, England. He was the son of the Scottish engineer John Rennie and the brother of Sir John Rennie.-Early life:...

. Construction started in 1827, and it was opened in 1832.

From the 1940s until the 1970s this was a hotspot for summer holiday traffic jams due to many motorists heading from London towards the south-west. When the M3

M3 Chertsey Bridge

The M3 Chertsey Bridge is a motorway bridge in England built in the 1970s.The bridge carries the M3 motorway across the River Thames on the reach above Chertsey Lock. It is 500 yards upstream of the lock and Chertsey Bridge, a historic bridge over the river...

 and later the M25

M25 Runnymede Bridge

The M25 Runnymede Bridge is a motorway bridge built in the 1980s, carrying the M25 motorway across the River Thames. It carries the M25 North/South just south of Heathrow Airport and crosses the Thames on the reach above Penton Hook Lock and shortly before Bell Weir Lock.The bridge was built to...

 bridges were constructed, the traffic was diverted away from the town.

Roman Road

The Roman Road does not have a popular name, but a straight line road route from Staines to London Wall

London Wall

London Wall was the defensive wall first built by the Romans around Londinium, their strategically important port town on the River Thames in what is now the United Kingdom, and subsequently maintained until the 18th century. It is now the name of a road in the City of London running along part of...

 can clearly be traced on modern maps via the A30

A30 road

The 284 miles A30 road from London to Land's End, historically known as the Great South West Road used to provide the most direct route from London to the south west; more recently the M3 motorway and A303 road performs this function for much of the route and only parts of A30 now retain trunk...

, A315, A402 and Oxford Street

Oxford Street

Oxford Street is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, United Kingdom. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, as well as its most dense, and currently has approximately 300 shops. The street was formerly part of the London-Oxford road which began at Newgate,...

. It passes through the modern towns of Hounslow

Hounslow

Hounslow is the principal town in the London Borough of Hounslow. It is a suburban development situated 10.6 miles west south-west of Charing Cross. It forms a post town in the TW postcode area.-Etymology:...

, Brentford

Brentford

Brentford is a suburban town in west London, England, and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It is located at the confluence of the River Thames and the River Brent, west-southwest of Charing Cross. Its former ceremonial county was Middlesex.-Toponymy:...

, Shepherds Bush and Holborn

Holborn

Holborn is an area of Central London. Holborn is also the name of the area's principal east-west street, running as High Holborn from St Giles's High Street to Gray's Inn Road and then on to Holborn Viaduct...

, interrupted only by a stretch of the District Line

District Line

The District line is a line of the London Underground, coloured green on the Tube map. It is a "sub-surface" line, running through the central area in shallow cut-and-cover tunnels. It is the busiest of the sub-surface lines. Out of the 60 stations served, 25 are underground...

 between Gunnersbury

Gunnersbury station

thumb|right|District Line train for Richmond in 1955Gunnersbury station is a London Underground and National Rail station in Gunnersbury in west London. The station is served by the District Line and London Overground trains on the North London Line and is managed by London Underground. On the...

 and Turnham Green

Turnham Green tube station

Turnham Green is a London Underground station in Chiswick in west London. The station is located on Turnham Green Terrace, but the actual green is much closer to Chiswick Park station. The station is served by the District and Piccadilly Lines although Piccadilly Line trains normally only stop at...

. The route west of Staines is less clear, because of subsequent agricultural

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

 land use, and possibly flood

Flood

A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...

 erosion

Erosion

Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...

.

The next Roman road clockwise out of London is Watling Street

Watling Street

Watling Street is the name given to an ancient trackway in England and Wales that was first used by the Britons mainly between the modern cities of Canterbury and St Albans. The Romans later paved the route, part of which is identified on the Antonine Itinerary as Iter III: "Item a Londinio ad...

 to Wroxeter (Viroconium) near Shrewsbury, and the next Roman road anti-clockwise is the confusingly named Stane Street to Chichester (Noviomagus Regnorum).

External links

• Thames path at Staines