With evidence of Bronze and Iron Age settlements along the River Lea as early as 2400 BCE, the area’s significance as a place of rivers and waterways has long been acknowledged.

In Roman times, travellers from London would cross the River Lea at its lowest point to reach the main road to Colchester, and it is at this crossing that today’s Stratford lies. Colchester, like London, was an important Roman town, and the medieval name ‘Stratford’ means ‘the ford where the Roman Road crosses the river’. So throughout history, as now, Stratford was a hub from which to set out to different places.

It later became the point at which Essex and London met, and since then has sometimes been regarded as part of Essex and, latterly, as part of London.

Although Stratford is not specifically listed in the Domesday Book of 1086, there is mention of eight watermills along this part of the Lea – the highest concentration in Essex. The Domesday Book also records the Manor of (West) Ham, with a population of 130.

In around 1100, Queen Maud, wife of Henry I, commissioned the construction of Bow Bridge – which landed on the western, or London side of the River Lea at Stratford-atte-Bow (now Bow) and on the eastern side at Stratford Langthorne (now Stratford). One of the first arched bridges built in England since the Roman occupation, this bridge was a technological wonder for the period. The original bridge was demolished in 1835, at which time the great Roman Road from Colchester to London was diverted through Stratford.

In 1134, William de Montfitchet founded an Abbey at Stratford Langthorne, where there was also a mill, using the power of the Lea. Abbey Mill is therefore a very old local name.

In one of Stratford’s most famous literary references, the 14th century poet Geoffrey Chaucer mentions Stratford-atte-Bowe in his General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, when the narrator compares the French accent taught in its Abbey with that spoken in Paris. In his comment he gently mocks the turn of phrase of the Prioress, one of the band of pilgrims travelling to Canterbury. Today, with many native French speakers from Africa and elsewhere living in Newham, and with the new international station soon to be built, French Stratford-style is on the up again.

In the 14th century, slaughter-houses were banned from London because of noise, and were moved out to Stratford and Bow. This theme continued: land was cheap, accessible and free from city restrictions; and so many parts of the East End were treated for long periods as the backyard of London.

On the 27th June 1556, during the rule of the Tudor Queen Mary, a terrible event took place at Stratford. Eleven men and two women, later known as the Stratford Martyrs, were brought from Newgate and burnt at the stake on a single fire for their ‘protestant beliefs’. Stratford Green, the place of their execution, was near the site of today’s St John’s Church (built in 1834), where a memorial was erected during the 19th century.

One anecdote reveals a more light-hearted aspect of Stratford’s Tudor history. In 1600, the famous Shakespearean actor, theatre entrepreneur and comic Will Kemp is said to have wagered that he could dance all the way from London to Norwich. Accompanied by his tabor-player and by a minder who made sure that he obeyed the rules, Kemp set off through the City, Whitechapel and the East End, followed by crowds of curious onlookers, and did indeed dance through Stratford on his month-long journey to Norfolk.

During the 17th century, early industrial activities grew up along banks of the Lea. These included silk weaving, calico printing, the manufacture of Bow porcelain (using product from slaughter houses), distilling and gun-powder making. In 1722 Daniel Defoe noted the rapid growth of Stratford. The rest of the area was made up of small agricultural hamlets and the large houses of city merchants at places such as Plaistow, Church Lane, Forest Gate and Upton.

At this period, corn was brought from Essex to watermills and windmills in the area. The flour was used to bake large quantities of bread in ovens fired with Epping Forest wood – a shrewd business for Stratford wishing to trade inside London, since the bakers there were exempt from city controls. Cattle were also brought to Stratford from the Eastern Counties for slaughter and onward transit to London. So not only was Stratford a pioneer in industry, but also in modern commerce.

But it was in the 19th century that industrialisation really took over – and not entirely to Stratford’s advantage. The 1844 Metropolitan Building Act severely limited many toxic and noxious industries from operating in London and Middlesex. As a result, many of these dirty processes were moved across the Essex border to Stratford and West Ham. Industries included rendering animal carcasses for tallow, soap and glue, chemical plants for acids, pharmaceuticals or printing inks. Today’s plans for Stratford City include a commitment to a clean environment and energy efficiency – a far cry from the days of the ‘dark satanic mills’.

The 19th century saw the birth of the railways and in 1839 the Eastern Counties Railway line started operating, with a route through Stratford. A few years later the main works of the Great Eastern Railway opened on the area that became known as the Rail Lands. Built up under George Hudson, the ‘railway king’, the 78-acre site employed 6000 people. It built locomotives and carriages, and even printed tickets and assembled goods such as cutlery for passenger catering. Later, from the 1920s onwards, the Rail Lands were used as a depot for the repair and maintenance of railway engines of all kinds.

In the 1850s, Plaistow, Stratford, Upton, Canning Town and Forest Gate merged into one, and West Ham became the eighth biggest town in the UK. As local industry grew, so did the area’s population, trebling between the 1840s and the 1860s. Conditions for many during the 19th century were squalid, and there was severe deprivation. With open sewers running at the bottom of crowded streets, cholera was common. It was thus not surprising that Stratford became the cradle of trades unions and socialism in the UK; and Keir Hardie became the first ever Labour MP when he was elected to represent West Ham in 1892.

The interwar years were especially hard in Stratford. Unemployment reached record levels, and poverty was rife. Such was people’s despair that hunger marches, demonstrations and riots took place in the borough. At the same time, foreign settlers were arriving in Newham, especially from Asia and the Caribbean. Fascism raised its head, and though support was strong enough to cause real concern, when Oswald Mosley spoke at a meeting in Stratford Town Hall in July 1935, he was drowned out by several hundred protesters.

As war broke out in 1939, there was mass evacuation from Stratford, which along with the whole of East London and the Docks suffered terribly during the Blitz and throughout the war. Amazingly, the number of civilian dead in the area was just 1,700 – a tribute to the efficiency of the air raid shelters rather than the deadly efficacy of the German bombs.

The war ended and then came a massive rebuilding programme followed, sadly, by economic decline and, eventually, the closure of the Royal Docks. In 1965, East Ham and West Ham amalgamated to form the London Borough of Newham, and at this point the area’s 1000-year link with Essex was broken.

In the late 1960s, a first wave of regeneration was a mixed blessing, destroying much of the old street grid of Stratford and a key social focal point around Angel Lane, but also bringing the shopping centre. The London Freight Terminal took over the Rail Lands site in 1967, providing some employment for local people. It continued to operate until new plans were made for the area at the end of the 1990s.

During the 1990s, a tremendous effort by local people brought about major regeneration in Stratford, leading to the new station and bus station, a brighter town centre, the new library and a cultural quarter consisting of a brand new cinema, Stratford Circus (a busy performing arts venue) and the revived Theatre Royal Stratford East. Today’s Stratford is full of life and optimism.