Bow
| Bow | |
| Middlesex | |
|---|---|
 Bow Locks, Bromley-by-Bow | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TQ365825 |
| Location: | 51°31’47"N, 0°1’44"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | London |
| Postcode: | E3 |
| Dialling code: | 020 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Tower Hamlets |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Bethnal Green and Bow |
Bow is a part of the East End of London, but a distinct town with its own character. Strung out eastward from the City's Aldgate is a series of villages run into one urban mass; Whitechapel, Stepney, Mile End, and finally Bow. Beyond Bow is the River Lea; Middlesex's eastern border, and beyond that is Stratford.
Bow is mentioned in the Canterbury Tales by its earlier name of Stratford-atte-'Bow ("Stratford at the bow"), a counterpart to Stratford (or Stratford Langthorne) in Essex across the river; both are named for old Roman street and the ford it crosses there. Bow was known in Anglo-Saxon days as Strætford. The town retained the name into the nineteenth century: Thomas Moule's maps published from 1830 show it variously as "Bow" and as "Stratford le Bow". The "bow" is the bow in the River Lea by which it stands.
