Staines
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Staines is an urban area in the Borough (Hundreds) of Spelthorne (Spelethorne). The main towns in Spelthorne are Staines (Stanes), Ashford (Exeford), Stanwell (Stanwelle), Shepperton (Scepertone), Sunbury (Sunbarie). Staines is the administrative centre of the Borough and has the largest shopping area. Spelthorne is a district of London, that has a population of approximately 90,000, and covers 21 square miles. (words in brackets are from the Doomsday Book. c.1086.) |
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The Town
Hall was built in 1886. The money to build it came from donations
from the resident's of Staines.
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The History
of the Town Hall area through the years. For centuries
the Hythe on the other side of the river, (close to the Swan Inn,)
was the site of one end of the earliest Staines Bridge, the other
end came on land near to where the Town Hall stands. (See above
photo) The Town
Hall was designed by John Johnson, it is built of white brick
and beer stone dressings. It
cost £5,000 to build. The
clock is known for a mistake on one of the three faces, both 9
and 11 have the number XI instead of IX and XI. In
1947, More than 70 families from the flooded areas were given
temporary accommodation in the Town Hall when they had to evacuate
their homes. My first memory was these floods, we lived down Chertsey
Lane, and I remember mum holding me, while talking to a man outside
in what was our garden, he was in a boat, (now I presume it had
to have been a flat bottomed boat, maybe a punt,) she said that
we were OK as our house was built on stilts to stop us being flooded
out. We didn't need to evacuate. The man shouted, 'Alright love as
long as you are safe I will leave you', and he rowed to the next house.
I think my mum must have been scared because it was something I remember
vividly and I was only about 18 months old.
Over
the years the Town Hall was used for various public events, such as
dances, amateur dramatics, boxing tournaments, Opera, an Arts Centre,
cellar bar, psychic fairs, and Christmas fairs, I remember in about
1972, a Victorian Faire where an ox was roasted on a spit out in the
Market Square. The Council
eventually sold the Town Hall in 2005. This action saddened the Townspeople
almost as much as when the White Lion pub was demolished. The people
had memories of both buildings. The money to build the Town Hall had
come from public subscriptions, and so the residents of Staines felt
it belonged to them. It should never have been sold. It then became
a pub for a while. Now in 2021, to top it off the building has been made into 13 apartments, pretty nice from what I have seen, and also pretty expensive, so the people who bought it have done well for themselves.
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All information
on this site was researched using the following sources: |
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Site
created by Dragonfly
Dezignz
2002. Updated 2021.
Copyright Dragonfly Dezignz
(1998 - 2021)