The first bridge across the Thames at Staines is thought to have been built by the Romans and there was a settlement in the area around the modern High Street by the end of the 1st century CE.

At the end of the 20th century, Staines became infamous as the home town of the fictional film and television character, Ali G. Although many local residents felt that the town's reputation was suffering through its association with the character, Sacha Baron Cohen, the creator of Ali G, praised Staines for being a "lovely, leafy, middle-class suburb... where swans swim under the beautiful bridge".

The earliest document to refer to Staines is the Antonine Itinerary, thought to have been written in the early 3rd century AD, in which the location appears as Pontibus, meaning "at the bridges".

[6] The name derives from the Old English stān, meaning "stone",[7] and may refer to a Roman milestone on the London to Silchester road that survived into the early Anglo-Saxon period.

[6] In order to promote the town's "riverside image" and to distance it from its association with the fictional character, Ali G,[8][9] Spelthorne Borough Council voted in December 2011 to change its name from "Staines" to "Staines-upon-Thames".

The site, on a gravel island in the Colne river delta, 16 m (52 ft) AOD, consisted of two concentric, subcircular ditches, with a probable main entrance at the southeastern side.

[30] Other Neolithic artefacts from the local area include fragments of a jadeite axe, discovered on Staines Moor in the early 1980s, tentatively dated to c. 3500 – c. 1700 BCE.

[37] Since Staines is located on the low-lying floodplain of the Thames, it is likely that historical flooding events have destroyed much of the archaeological evidence of pre-Roman human activity in the town centre.

[38][39][note 8] There was a settlement in the area surrounding the modern High Street and, although the date of its foundation is uncertain, the earliest archaeological evidence is from 54–96 AD, corresponding to the reign of Nero and the period of the Flavian Dynasty.

[43][note 9] Archaeological evidence, including pits, ditches and pottery sherds suggests that there was a permanent settlement in this area by the mid-Saxon period and there may have been a marketplace at the northern end of Church Street.

[43][note 10] A late-Saxon execution cemetery on London Road, containing the incomplete remains of up to thirty skeletons, suggests that the town was also an important local centre for the administration of justice.

[18] Reforms during the Tudor period reduced the importance of manorial courts and the day-to-day administration of towns such as Staines became the responsibility of the vestry of the parish church.

[65] In 1734, an Act of Parliament noted that the structure was "in a ruinous and dangerous condition" and that the money raised from tolls and local taxes was insufficient to fund adequate maintenance.

[76] The construction of the locks regulated the flow of the river and increased its depth to facilitate navigation, whilst maintaining an adequate head of water to power mills.

[77] With the exception of the construction of the causeway at Egham Hythe in the mid-13th century, there were few improvements in the local road network in the millennium following the end of the Roman period.

Originally the intention had been to create a junction with the line from Datchet and for trains to serve the main Staines station, but inter-company rivalry meant that a separate facility was built instead.

[91][note 15] The Staines air disaster occurred on 18 June 1972, when a Hawker Siddeley Trident, operated by British European Airways, crashed shortly after takeoff from Heathrow Airport.

[112][113] In the 21st century, proximity to London, Heathrow Airport and the M25 motorway has attracted large company branch offices, including: Bupa (healthcare)[114] and Wood plc (oil & gas).

[117] The modern settlement of Staines appears to have originated in the late 12th century, when the area around the High Street was developed as a planned town, possibly in response to rebuilding the bridge over the Thames.

[120] Despite its proximity to London and the fact that Staines Bridge and the local factories presented obvious enemy targets, the town sustained relatively little bomb damage during the Second World War.

[147] Staines is linked by a number of bus routes to surrounding towns and villages in north Surrey, south west London (including Heathrow Airport) and east Berkshire.

However, parts of the building were sufficiently close to completion to allow pupils aged 11 to 14 from Kingston Road School to transfer to the site, after their classrooms were damaged by bombing.

[166][168] The condition of the church deteriorated in the late 17th and 18th century, due in part to the sale of the lead from the roof of the aisle to fund the Parliamentarian cause in the Civil War.

[173][174] It was designed by George Fellowes Prynne in the free Perpendicular style and the cost of construction was paid by the Solicitor General, Edward Clarke MP.

[182] Among the works of public art on display are mosaics by Gary Drostle and sculptures by Terence Clarke that pay homage to the town's history as a former Roman settlement.

[189][190] William Shakespeare mentions Staines in Act II Scene 3 of Henry V, when the Hostess asks her husband, who is travelling to Southampton, if she can accompany him as far as the town.

[194] In John Wyndham's novel The Kraken Wakes (1953), the main characters are stopped in their attempt to reach Cornwall on a dinghy through a flooded England in the "Staines-Weybridge area".

[209] Staines Rugby Football Club was founded in summer 1926 and played its first game against a team from Windsor at the Lammas Recreation Ground that October.

Originally positioned close to the Market Square, it marked the western boundary of the corporation's jurisdiction[221] and is thought to have indicated the tidal limit of the Thames in medieval times.

Until the Commons Registration Act 1965 came into force, any homeowner, whose chimney smoke could be seen from St Mary's Church, was entitled to graze their animals on the moor between April and December each year.