Place name
Woodford appears in the Domesday Book in 1086 as Wdefort, having previously been recorded before the Norman Conquest as Wudeford in 1062. As the name implies it means a river crossing point in or by the wood. The ford refers to a crossing of the River Roding. It was Wudeforde by 1225 and with a bridge replacing the ford sometime before 1238 some of the district was renamed Ponte de Woodford by 1285 and Woodfordbrigge in 1429. This is one of the oldest roads in Redbridge and is apparent on the Chapman and Andre Map of 1777. It was laid out on land that until the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16thCentury was part of Barking Abbey’s property. Most of the area was developed between the wars following the construction of Eastern Avenue in 1925.
