[4][5] The northern section - between Woodford and Wake Arms - was originally part of the A11, which ran continuously between Aldgate in the City of London and Norwich, Norfolk.

[9] A railway station bearing the street's name was opened in 1904 - on the Northern City Line between Finsbury Park and Moorgate.

[8][9] As of 2022, station is served by Great Northern trains between London Moorgate and Welwyn Garden City or Stevenage (via Hertford North).

[12] Mapping from the 18th century suggests the route north-east out of Leyton, further into the county of Essex, was established through heath and forest in the 1700s, which was "the haunt of highwaymen" at the time.

Historians have identified two main routes between London and Epping in the sixteenth century - the first through Waltham Abbey and the second through Stratford, Chigwell and Abridge.