Old Ford, London

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Old Ford
Greater London
OS grid reference TQ365835
London borough Tower Hamlets
Ceremonial county Greater London
Region London
Constituent country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town LONDON
Postcode district E3
Dial code 020
Police Metropolitan
Fire London
Ambulance London
UK Parliament Bethnal Green and Bow
London Assembly City and East
European Parliament London
List of places: UKEnglandLondon

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

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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 (now 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.[1]

Colchester[2] 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. Evidence of a late Roman settlement at Old Ford, in about the 4th and 5th centurys, has been found.

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, to save the often difficult journey to the parish church of St Dunstan's at Stepney.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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 1960s.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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
  2. ^ Celtic : Camulodunon, Roman : Camulodunum derived from Camulus, a Celtic God of War

[edit] Nearby Places

Coordinates: 51.53391° N 0.03341° W

London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Districts: Bethnal Green | Blackwall | Bow | Bromley-by-Bow | Cambridge Heath | Cubitt Town | Globe Town | Isle of Dogs | Limehouse | Mile End | Millwall | Old Ford | Poplar | Ratcliff | Shadwell | Spitalfields | Stepney | Wapping | Whitechapel

Attractions Tower of London | St Katharine Docks | Christ Church, Spitalfields | Museum of Childhood | Museum in Docklands
Parks and open spaces in Tower Hamlets
Street markets Petticoat Lane | Brick Lane | Columbia Road market | Old Spitalfields market | Roman Road market
Constituencies Bethnal Green & Bow | Poplar & Canning Town