82 THE EXETER ROAD 



Staines disputes with Coliibrook, on the Bath 

 Road, tlie honour of having been the Roman station 

 of Ad Pontes, and has the best of it, according to the 

 views of the foremost authorities. ' At the Bridges ' 

 woukl doubtless have been an excellently descriptive 

 name for either place, in view of the number of 

 streams at both, and the liridges necessary to cross 

 them ; but the A^ery name of Staines should of itself 

 be almost sufficient to prove the Roman origin of the 

 place, even if the Roman remains found in and about 

 it were not considered conclusive evidence. There are 

 those who derive ' Staines ' from the ancient stone 

 still standinsf on the north bank of the Thames, above 

 the bridge, marking the historic boundary up-stream 

 of the jurisdiction exercised over the river by the City 

 of London ; but there can be no douljt of its real 

 origin in the paved Roman highway, a branch of the 

 Akeman Street, on which this former military station 

 of Ad Pontes stood. The stones of the old road yet 

 remained when the Saxons overran the country, and 

 it was named ' the Stones ' by that people, from the 

 fact of being on a paved highway. The very many 

 places in this county with the prefixes. Stain, Stone, 

 Stan, Street, Streat,and Stret,all,or nearly all, originate 

 in the paved Roman roads (or ' streets ') and fords ; 

 and there is little to support another theory, that the 

 name of Staines came from a Roman onilliaf'ium, or 

 milestone, which may or may not have stood some- 

 where here on the road. 



The stone column, very like a Roman altar, standing 

 on three steps and a square panelled plinth, and 

 placed in a meadow on the north bank of the river, is 



