The Valley As A Boundary
In earlier centuries the river Lea and its marshland formed a natural boundary between the historic areas of Middlesex and Essex, some 2 km wide and 20 km long. The river was crossed at several points by fords or ferries, which were eventually replaced by bridges. At Stratford a stone causeway on the Roman road to Colchester was supplemented by bridge in 1100. In 1745 the valley was crossed at Clapton by Lea Bridge. In 1810 an iron bridge was built linking East India Dock Road. In the late 1920s the Lea Valley Viaduct, carrying the North Circular Road, was built to a design by Owen Williams. This was replaced in the 1980s.
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Famous quotes containing the words valley and/or boundary:
“To be seventy years old is like climbing the Alps. You reach a snow-crowned summit, and see behind you the deep valley stretching miles and miles away, and before you other summits higher and whiter, which you may have strength to climb, or may not. Then you sit down and meditate and wonder which it will be.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)
“Superstition? Who can define the boundary line between the superstition of yesterday and the scientific fact of tomorrow?”
—Garrett Fort (1900–1945)