Stanwell is a village close to two of the three main towns in the
Borough of Spelthorne
Spelthorne is a local government district and borough in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Staines-upon-Thames; other settlements in the area include Ashford, Sunbury-on-Thames, Shepperton, Stanwell and Laleham.
Spelthorne borders the ...
,
Surrey, about west of central London. A small corner of its land is vital industrial land serving Heathrow Airport – most of the rest is residential/recreational, and the housing ranges from suburban homes with gardens to low- to mid-rise urban apartment blocks. Historically part of the county of
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbourin ...
, it has, like the rest of Spelthorne, been in Surrey since 1965. The village is to the south of the cargo-handling area of
Heathrow Airport and to the east of the
Staines Reservoirs.
Its recognisable extent has been substantially cut three times – all in the 20th century. Land was taken for reservoirs in about 1900; a few decades later land was taken into Heathrow Airport; and in 1995, after the completion of the
M25 motorway
The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 the lon ...
, the settlement of
Poyle
Poyle is a largely industrial and agricultural area in the unitary authority of Slough, in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, England (of which it is the easternmost settlement). It is located west of Charing Cross in London and immediately w ...
(beyond Stanwell Moor) was detached from the Borough and reassigned to
Colnbrook in the Borough of Slough.
Stanwell Moor is seen as its own village since the 1870s secularisation of local government. It likewise has reservoirs in its historical area. It was recognised as a manor in medieval times. It has a few pasture/horse-riding fields, horticultural businesses and flood meadows. It is centred from the historical nucleus of Stanwell and is part of the same
ward and