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Stratford through the ages Before the Olympic Games, a plethora of activities put Stratford on the map


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Communication is a necessary condition for the creation of important manufacturing and cultural sites. All the great world cities were centres of trade, made possible by extensive transport networks. In itself, however, communication is not a suffi cient condition; cities have operated as important transport hubs without ever emerging as global sites in their own right. Even as host to the 2012 Olympic Games, when


it will attract the attention of the world, Stratford cannot claim to be a world city. But it has a long history, shaped by lines of communication, and an importance somewhat greater than that promised by its location in the ancient parish of West Ham. Remote it may have been from the direct infl uence of London and the Thames, but the fact that Stratford’s proximity to the River Lea and the old Roman road leading eastwards from London to Colchester conferred certain strategic advantages. Stratford sits approximately 3km from the


Thames, at which point the Lea divides into fi ve channels. Rumour has it, King Alfred altered its course in 895AD as a means of preventing the Danish fl eet from using the Lea to outfl ank the


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1. The new


Eastern Counties Railway line by Stratford, 1837 2. John Oliver's 1696 map of East London 3. The Bow Bridge – for years regarded as the gateway to London


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