Roman Road, E2

Road in/near Mile End, existing between the 1850s and now.

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(51.53007 -0.04346, 51.53 -0.043) 
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Road · * · E2 ·
MAY
26
2021
Roman Road commemorates the ancient route from London to Colchester without being actually that road.

Roman Road got its name in Victorian times. Archaeologists discovered the original Roman road between London and Colchester in the 1840s – running parallel to this one.

Roman Road is now one of the main roads in East London running from Bethnal Green in the west to Bow in the east. It traverses two postcodes, E2 and E3.

The modern Roman Road evolved from a footpath called the ’Driftway’ which ran beside a windmill on the present site of Ford Close. Old Ford was then the main road and a toll road linked Mile End to Grove Road in Hackney.

The Metropolitan Board of Works started to build Roman Road from the 1850s onwards along the line of the Driftway. This extended Bethnal Green Road and Green Street eastwards and was paid for by local residents and businesses. In the 1870s, plans to extend the Roman Road to Stratford fell through.

This western section was originally Green Street. There were 48 buses a day along Green Street by 1882. In the 1930s, Green Street was merged into Roman Road – and all the shop and house numbers were changed accordingly.

As the road was built, housing, trades and manufacturing, most famously the Bryant and May Match Factory, developed.

Roman Road was originally lined with streets of Victorian housing of mixed quality. The area was typical of the East End with the very poor and well to do living only a street apart.

Roman Road was a centre of Suffragette activity with the headquarters of the East London Federation of Suffragettes at 400 Old Ford Road. Their newspaper, Women’s Dreadnought was published from 321 Roman Road.

The first flying bomb in London fell 200 yards from Roman Road in Grove Road in June 1944.

With post-war slum clearance, a large slice of the Victorian housing disappeared, to be replaced by housing estates.



Main source: East End Street Names | London History
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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY

Comment
   
Added: 13 Jan 2021 13:11 GMT   

Zealand Rd E3 used to be called Auckland Road
Zealand Road E3 used to be called Auckland Road. I seen it on a Philips ABC of London dated about 1925. There is a coalhole cover in nearby Driffield R oad showing a suppliers address in Auckland Road.

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LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT

Comment
Wendy    
Added: 22 Mar 2024 15:33 GMT   

Polygon Buildings
Following the demolition of the Polygon, and prior to the construction of Oakshott Court in 1974, 4 tenement type blocks of flats were built on the site at Clarendon Sq/Phoenix Rd called Polygon Buildings. These were primarily for people working for the Midland Railway and subsequently British Rail. My family lived for 5 years in Block C in the 1950s. It seems that very few photos exist of these buildings.

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Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:42 GMT   

Road construction and houses completed
New Charleville Circus road layout shown on Stanford’s Library Map Of London And Its Suburbs 1879 with access via West Hill only.

Plans showing street numbering were recorded in 1888 so we can concluded the houses in Charleville Circus were built by this date.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

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Comment
Steve   
Added: 19 Mar 2024 08:04 GMT   

Charleville Circus, Sydenham: One Place Study (OPS)
One Place Study’s (OPS) are a recent innovation to research and record historical facts/events/people focused on a single place �’ building, street, town etc.

I have created an open access OPS of Charleville Circus on WikiTree that has over a million members across the globe working on a single family tree for everyone to enjoy, for free, forever.

Source: Charleville Circus, Sydenham, London

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Comment
Charles   
Added: 8 Mar 2024 20:45 GMT   

My House
I want to know who lived in my house in the 1860’s.

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NH   
Added: 7 Mar 2024 11:41 GMT   

Telephone House
Donald Hunter House, formerly Telephone House, was the BT Offices closed in 2000

Reply
Comment
Paul Cox   
Added: 5 Mar 2024 22:18 GMT   

War damage reinstatement plans of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street
Whilst clearing my elderly Mothers house of general detritus, I’ve come across original plans (one on acetate) of No’s 11 & 13 Aldine Street. Might they be of interest or should I just dispose of them? There are 4 copies seemingly from the one single acetate example. Seems a shame to just junk them as the level of detail is exquisite. No worries if of no interest, but thought I’d put it out there.

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Comment
Diana   
Added: 28 Feb 2024 13:52 GMT   

New Inn Yard, E1
My great grandparents x 6 lived in New Inn Yard. On this date, their son was baptised in nearby St Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch

Source: BDM London, Cripplegate and Shoreditch registers written by church clerk.

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Comment
Vic Stanley   
Added: 24 Feb 2024 17:38 GMT   

Postcose
The postcode is SE15, NOT SE1

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LOCAL PHOTOS
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The original Black Boy pub.
TUM image id: 1530023663
Licence: CC BY 2.0
Bonner Street (1960s)
TUM image id: 1580137546
Licence: CC BY 2.0

In the neighbourhood...

Click an image below for a better view...
Palm Tree (1971) The Palm Tree still exists but is no longer part of terraced housing but an isolated building in Mile End Park. All of the surrounding streets shown here have disappeared.
Credit: London Metropolitan Archives
Licence:


17-21 Old Ford Road, Bethnal Green (2019) Built in 1753 by Anthony Natt Senior, No 21 to the right had, by 1815, become a girls school for Promoting Christianity among the Jews, by 1873 it was an asylum for "fallen women". Since 1900 it has been occupied by St Margaret’s House a womens Settlement associated with Oxford House.
Credit: Wiki Commons/Reading Tom
Licence:


The corner of Roman Road and Vivian Road (1937)
Licence:


W.J. Thomas store on corner of Roman Road and Totty Street (1953) The vacant site next door has billboards with posters for Daz.
Credit: London Metropolitan Archives
Licence:


Bonner Street (1960s)
Licence: CC BY 2.0


View of Bonner’s Hall, Bethnal Green, an old occasional seat of the Bishops of London (1844)
Credit: Thomas Hosmer Shepherd
Licence: CC BY 2.0




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