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From the longer Wikipedia page [1]

Bow Bridge was a stone bridge built over the River Lea, in what is now London, in the twelfth century. It linked Bow in Middlesex with Stratford in Essex.

The river was previously forded further north at Old Ford; the new crossing led the highway to Essex and East Anglia to take a more southerly route - now the Whitechapel, Mile End and Bow Roads.


Prior to the construction of the bridge, settlements on both sides of the river were known as Stratford. Afterwards, the western Stratford settlement become suffixed by “-atte-Bow” (at the Bow), eventually becoming known simply as Bow. The eastern Stratford became suffixed by "Langthorne" after a large and notable tree, but lost that suffix over time and is now know simply as Stratford.

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