Staines' traditional status as the Roman 'Ad Pontes' was confirmed in the 1970s by archaeological evidence. The same findings demonstrated that the Staines river crossing had in prehistoric times been a focal point for ceremonial and economic activity for people from a wide area. This is hard to imagine today, when faced with the wreckage of 20th-century speculative and municipal barbarism, the obliteration of most of the central street pattern and the destruction of ancient buildings.

Leave the modern town centre, however, and one can still find remnants of Staines as it once was. Those who take the Thames path across the Lammas land will discover the 18th-century enclave of Church Street. Further on, over the bypass and railway to Staines Moor, which hides heron and plover on the meandering River Colne, is revealed a landscape little changed since prehistory. From here, aided by a little historical knowledge, the mind's eye can envisage the grazing sheep and cattle that would have fed the Abbot of Westminster's household, Archbishop Langton gathering together the barons before facing the king at Runymede, a mile upstream and the first Staines Quakers walking to their monthly meeting at Longford. Diverse people and groups would have passed one another here: soldiers, Prince Rupert's cavalry, London train bands and James II's guardsmen. Staines has a rich and varied history, which is elegantly told in this splendid new Phillimore title, and brought to life with plenty of superb illustrations.