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Template:Infobox London place Old Ford is an area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and traditionally considered part of Bow

History

The 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 through Essex to Colchester. Colchester was where the Romans set up their initial capital for their occupation, and the road was upgraded to to run from the area of London Bridge, as one of the first paved Roman roads in Britain. By 1549, this had become known as The Kings Way. The building of the bridge at Stratford-atte-Bow between 1100 and 1118 by Matilda, queen to Henry I, after she is reputed to have fallen in the swollen Lee, at the crossing, left Old Ford as a backwater in an isolated and rural area. This was one of the sites of one of the many water mills in the area.

The Victorian Era

In the Victorian era, Old Ford became a part of the seamless East End conurbation, with large estates of houses. These were built to serve the new factories on the Lee, and Lee Navigation; and to serve the new railways.

The Railways

The North London Railway had a line through the area with a station at Old Ford. The line was badly damaged during World War II and never reopened. The station buildings were demolished in the early 1960's.

References

1. 'Bethnal Green: Communications', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11: Stepney, Bethnal Green (1998), pp. 88-90 accessed: 15 November 2006.

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