to improve the stretch of the river through Staines did not start until the 19th century. The pound lock at Penton Hook, a tight meander downstream of Staines, was constructed in 1815, but the weirs were not added until 1846. Bell Weir Lock, upstream of the town, opened in 1818, but was rebuilt in 1867-8 after the chamber walls had collapsed the previous year. 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. 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. In 1727, the turnpike road from Hounslow to Bagshot, which crossed the river via Staines Bridge, was opened. A second turnpike, from Staines to Kingston opened in 1773. The re-siting of the bridge by George Rennie in the early 1830s necessitated changes in the road network at the western end of the High Street: The Market Square became a no through road and Clarence Street was constructed to direct traffic to the new crossing. The railway line through Staines between Richmond and was opened by the Windsor, Staines and South Western Railway on 22 August 1848. In 1856, became a junction when the line across the Thames to Ascot was opened. A curve linking the Ascot and Datchet lines was opened in April 1877 and remained in use until March 1965. A second station in the town, Staines High Street station, to the northwest of the junction of this curve and the Datchet line, was open between 1884 and 1916. The railway line through Staines to Windsor was electrified in June 1930 and to in 1937. Staines signal box closed in September 1974. A third station in the town was opened on 2 November 1885. was the terminus of a single-track branch from the Great Western Main Line, constructed by the Staines and West Drayton Railway Company. 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. The freight yard closed under the Beeching Axe in the 1950s and passenger services ceased in March 1965. Trains continued to run