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Revision as of 09:37, 23 July 2008
For the fictional Old Ford in Middle Earth, see Old Ford (Middle-earth). Human settlement in EnglandOld Ford is an area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and traditionally considered part of Bow.
History
Administration and boundaries
Historically, Old Ford was a cluster of houses and a mill, around the location of the ford. It formed a part of the medieval parish of Stepney, with a rising population in the Victorian era, it did become an independent parish, but civil administration has always been associated with Bow.
Old Ford
Old Ford, as the name suggests, was the ancient, most downstream, crossing point of the River Lee. This was part of a pre-Roman route that followed the modern Oxford Street, Old Street, through Bethnal Green to Old Ford and thence across a causeway through the marshes, known as Wanstead Slip (actually in Leyton). The route then continued through Essex to Colchester. At this time, the Lee was a wide, fast flowing river, and the tidal estuary stretched as far as Hackney Wick.
Colchester was where the Romans set up their initial capital for their occupation, and the road was upgraded to run from the area of London Bridge, as one of the first paved Roman roads in Britain. Evidence of a late Roman settlement at Old Ford, in about the 4th and 5th centuries, has been found. Excavations in 2002–3 discovered a substantial 'ribbon' development along the line of the road, surrounded by fields. Near the river, there was evidence for a cluster of wooden buildings dominated by a large open-ended barn. Large amounts of cattle bone were also discovered – suggesting butchery to supply the London market. The Lee was thought to be used to supply Roman London with agricultural products and pottery from Hertsfordhire and the north. Old Ford was where the goods were transferred to continue their journey into London by wagon.
In 1110 Matilda, wife of Henry I, reputedly took a tumble at the ford, on her way to Barking Abbey and ordered a distinctively bow-shaped, three-arched, bridge to be built over the River Lee, The like of which had not been seen before. The building of the bridge at Bow, didn't leave Old Ford as a backwater and the ford continued to be well used, but it was in an isolated and rural area and the local population centre moved to Bow in the middle ages. Old Ford was one of the sites of one of the many water mills in the area, that supplied flour to the bakers of Stratforde-atte-Bow, and hence bread to the City. Due to their isolation, residents were given dispensation to worship in the chapel of ease at Stratforde-atte-Bow, later Bow Church, to save the often difficult journey to the parish church of St Dunstan's at Stepney.
A lock and weir now exist on the River Lee where the ford used to be.
Victorian era
Farming and market gardening prevailed in the district, until the 19th century, when Old Ford became a part of the seamless East End conurbation, with large estates of relatively poor houses and much poverty. These were built to serve the new factories on the Lee, and Lee Navigation; and to serve the new railways.
Railways
The North London Railway had a line through the area with a station at Old Ford railway station. The line was badly damaged during World War II and never reopened. The station buildings were demolished in the early 1960s.
Today
Old Ford is again becoming desirable, with streets of Victorian housing, and improved transport links. The coming of the London 2012 Olympics is expected to provide an impetus to regeneration of the area.
The railway line is expected to reopen, as a part of the Crossrail project, but no additional stations are planned to serve the area.
References
- 'Bethnal Green: Communications', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11: Stepney, Bethnal Green (1998), pp. 88-90 accessed: 15 November 2006
- Celtic : Camulodunon, Roman : Camulodunum derived from Camulus, a Celtic God of War
- Mapping the sub-surface drift geology of Greater London gravel extraction areas {MOLAS report for English Heritage 2002/3) accessed 28 March 2008
Education
- For details of education in Old Ford see the List of schools in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
