Old Ford

Historically, Old Ford was a cluster of houses and a mill, around the ford. It formed a part of the Ancient Parish of Stepney. Together with the rest of Bow, it separated from Stepney to become a (late formed) Ancient Parish of Bow in 1719.[2] Ancient Parishes were, until the 19th century responsible for both civil and ecclesiastical local administration, after that there were divergent civil and ecclesiastical parish areas.

It expanded rapidly in the Victorian era and was designated an independent Anglican parish in the mid-Victorian period, although civil administration has always been associated with Bow.

Victorian OS maps show an illustrative location of the, by then, former ford, which was just to the south of the Northern Outfall Sewer and immediately south of the confluence of the Lea and the Hackney Brook. The confluence is likely to have caused the Lea to eddy and slow, causing much alluvial material from both watercourses to be dropped at this point, which may have been the reason that fording the river was possible here. This may have been reinforced by the fact that the Lea's tidal head was in the vicinity.[3]

Excavations have shown that in the Roman period, the ford lay a very short distance to the north of this point, immediately north of the Northern Outfall Sewer. The Romans dumped materials to improve the ford and at one time appear to have had a bridge over the Lea.[4]

Evidence has been found of a late Roman settlement at Old Ford dating from the 4th and 5th centuries. 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 Lea was thought to be used to supply Roman London with agricultural products and pottery from Hertfordshire and the north. Old Ford was where the goods were transferred to continue their journey into London by wagon.[5]

Old Ford, as the name suggests, was the ancient most downstream crossing point of the then unchannelised River Lea. At this time the Lea was a wide fast-flowing river and the tidal estuary stretched as far as Hackney Wick.[3]

Two routes may have used the ford, both continuing through Essex and including Colchester amongst their destinations. Colchester[6] 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.

The routes using the ford were:

• A pre-Roman route that followed the modern Oxford Street and Old Street, through Bethnal Green to Old Ford and thence across a causeway through the marshes known as Wanstead Slip (now transferred to Leyton).
• The Roman Road that emerged from London's Wall at Aldgate and went via Stratford and Chelmsford to Colchester and beyond. Beyond the M25, much of this route is now known as the A12.

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 Lea.

The building of the bridge at Bow did not 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 the site of one of the many watermills 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 Lee Navigation near where the ford used to be. This lies at the end of 'Hackney Cut', an 18th-century artificial channel, and the natural channel (known as the Waterworks River) rejoins the channel below the lock.

Old Ford Lock, Lee Navigation

n June 1648, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, a Royalist force of some 500 to 600 men won a minor battle against the Tower Hamlets Militia at Bow Bridge and occupied Stratford for three days, before heading off along the old Roman Road to the Siege of Colchester. During that those three days they carefully guarded Bow Bridge and a number of local fords so that the Lea would secure their flank against attack from the City of London and the Tower Hamlets.[7]

Farming and market gardening prevailed in the settlement until the 19th century when Old Ford became a part of the seamless London conurbation as a district, with large estates of relatively poor houses and much poverty. These were built to serve the new factories on the Lea and Lee Navigation and to serve the new railways.

In 1865, a 30-acre plot was purchased to be used as a gasworks, but the Gas Light and Coke Company established what would become known as Fish Island, giving it its distinctive road names, and building a mixed residential and industrial development instead.[8]

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.

As part of the post-war rebuilding, the Lakeview Estate was built and designed by Berthold Lubetkin, on a site damaged by bombing in World War II, on Grove Road between Old Ford Road and the Hertford Union Canal.[9] The estate opened in 1958.[9]

Fish Island also saw significant bombing during the war, with damaged housing demolished post-war to make way for factories and warehouses.[10]

St Barnabas's, Bethnal Green was also badly damaged by bombing during the same World War;[11] the steeple was removed and the church rebuilt, retaining the tower and north and south walls.[11] The remodelling was carried out by J Anthony Lewis of architects Michael Tapper & Lewis, who commissioned the sculptor Don Potter to create The Four Evangelists on the outside of the building.[12]

Victoria Park became known for its open air music festivals, often linked with a political cause in the 1970/80s. In 1978, Rock Against Racism organised a protest event against growth of far-right organisations such as the National Front. The concert was played by The Clash, Steel Pulse, X-Ray Spex, The Ruts, Sham 69, Generation X, and the Tom Robinson Band.[13] In 1975, the Baroness Burdett Coutts Drinking Fountain in the park was given Grade II* listed status by Historic England.[14]

Last day of the Routemaster, 4 June 2004

In 1986 the Greater London Council transferred responsibility for the park to the London borough of Tower Hamlets and the London Borough of Hackney, through a joint management board. Since 1994 Tower Hamlets has run the park alone.[15]

In 1991, St Paul's, Old Ford was closed due to maintenance and safety concerns. The Parochial Church Council and local people were determined to see that the church remained open and, in fact, was improved. The "A New Heart for Bow" project was born. More than £3,000,000 was raised from more than a dozen sources and philanthropies. Matthew Lloyd Architects was appointed to refurbish the building and enable it to serve the wider community as well as the church. Work began in March 2003 and ended over a year later, in May 2004.[16]

St Barnabas Community Fete, also known as Bowstock, was an annual fête and music festival held on Wennington Green in Mile End Park.[17]

Fish Island has a long history as a home to artists and art spaces,[18] having one of the highest densities of fine artists, designers and artisans in Europe according to a 2009 study which found around 600 artists' studios.[19] The Percy Dalton Peanut Factory was at Fish Island, occupying Britannia Works and gatehouse along Dace Road, and another building on Smeed Road. Britannia Works has been run as an artists studio building by SPACE since 2000.[20] Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast was broadcast live from a former lockkeeper's cottages on Fish Island,[21] from 28 September 1992 until 29 March 2002.[22]

The Palm Tree is a public house which was Grade II listed in 2015 by Historic England.[23]