Facts about Old Ford
Old Ford History
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.
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.
General Info
Local council facilities are grouped around Roman Road market. The local library, now called an Idea Store, is situated in Gladstone Place. A community and tenants’ hall is nearby. Access to council services is dealt with by the Bow and North Poplar One Stop Shop in Ewart Place.
The oldest model boat club in the world, the Victoria Model Steam Boat Club, founded in the Park on 15 July 1904, is still active today and holds up to 17 of their Sunday regattas a year. The VMSB Club runs straight-running boats just as they did 100 years ago but have also progressed to radio controlled boats and hydroplanes. The first Regatta is traditionally held on Easter Sunday and the Steam Regatta is always held on the first Sunday in July.
