From paving to lawn

one-non-blonde

I need a little advice about lawn preparation.

My front garden (only about 12-15 sq metres) was crazy-paved which I have since lifted (and left for 2 years while I thought about what to do with the area). The ground I'm left with is a mixture of what seems to be reasonable soil and fairly barren looking sandy rubble. There is a lot of horsetail which I know is virtually impossible to get rid of so have decided to turf the area in the hope that regular mowing will help to control/deter it somewhat (and think about planting up borders at a later date). A few weeks ago I killed all the weeds and dug the area over to a fork's depth, except for a section where there were too many stones to get more than a few inches beneath the surface.

My thinking now is:
1. I need to wait for the annual seeds that I've just dug in to germinate and to see if any perennials reappear and kill/remove accordingly.
2. Dig deeper in the very stoney areas (only about a quarter of the total area) and remove stones to get more of a depth of soil.
3. I need to even out the soil consistency (I think variations in soil quality could be very noticeable in a lawn?).

My questions are:
1. Should I perhaps just keep repeating the weeding process over the summer and wait until the autumn to lay turf? There's no shortage of rain here though and no hosepipe bans ever.
2. Would it be a good idea to dig in compost (free from local recycling plant) to enrich the soil? I don't know how hungry grass is in terms of nutrients.
3. How far do I need to dig down - is 6-8 inches enough?
4. What to do about the stones and rubble... does it matter if a lot lurk not far below and the surface is fairly smooth or is a good idea to remove as much as possible down to a certain depth? (My poor back! )

I'd be grateful for any advice, I've never planted grass before.