Old Ford is an area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets that is named after the natural ford, which provided a crossing of the River Lea.
History of 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 an Ancient Parish of Bow in 1719. 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 into an outer suburb of London. It was designated an independent Anglican parish in the mid-Victorian period, although civil administration has always been associated with Bow.
Evidence has been found of a late Roman settlement at Old Ford dating from the 4th and 5th centuries. Excavations in 2002–03 discovered a substantial 'ribbon' development along the line of the road, surrounded by fields. Near the river, there was evidence of a cluster of wooden buildings dominated by a sizeable 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.
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.