In early records the name first appears as Brambele, Brambelegh, or Brembeley and is likely to be derived from the Saxon words Brembel – a bramble, and lege – a field.

Bromley was home to St Leonard's Priory a Benedictine nunnery founded in the time of William the Conqueror and mentioned in the General Prologue to Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

It was destroyed at the time of the Dissolution in 1536, and the manor and lands passed to Sir Ralph Sadleir, who lived at Sutton House in Homerton and was privy councillor to Henry VIII.

The house was radically remodeled soon after 1700 and over the following centuries served as a calico printing works, gentleman's seat, gunpowder factory, charity home and a carpet warehouse.

This was principally used as a hunting lodge but was a grand residence of 24 rooms, including a Stateroom, built along the lines of Hardwick Hall and Montacute House.

It was destroyed at the time of the Dissolution in 1536, and the manor and lands passed to Sir Ralph Sadleir, who lived at Sutton House in Homerton and was privy councillor to Henry VIII.

In 1868, the Poplar and Stepney Sick Asylum was opened on a site next to the present day Bromley-by-Bow tube station.

Between 1899 and 1965 the parish of Bromley St Leonard formed part of the Metropolitan Borough of Poplar, within the County of London.

He based himself at Kingsley Hall in Powis Road, Bromley-by-Bow, for the three-month duration of his stay and was enthusiastically received by East Enders.

Stratford, West Ham and Canning Town are eastward, across the Lea, which is the boundary between the London Boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Newham.

Mile End is located to the west of a historic boundary which runs through Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park and along parts of Bow Common Lane, though the small former open space which was known as Bow Common, on either side of part of that road, lay just on the other side of that boundary, wholly within Mile End.

Bromley-by-Bow station is located in the centre of Bromley and has the London Underground District and Hammersmith & City lines serving it.

The Metropolitan line ceased serving Bromley in 1990 British Rail London, Tilbury & Southend Railway services stopped at the station until 1962.

Kingsley Hall is famous both for the visits of Mahatma Gandhi to the East End in 1931 and the therapeutic clinic run by the alternative psychologist R. D. Laing from 1965.

The Spratt's Complex was redeveloped and split into studio workshops (live/work units) and sold by JJAK (Construction) Ltd for leaseholders to fit out.

[24] The London Thames Gateway Development Corporation's aims for the Lower Lea Valley include providing 8,000 new homes and 2,500 new jobs in the Bromley-by-Bow area.

Immediately adjacent to it, in Newham, is the 26 acres (11 ha) Sugar House Island development, led by Vastint.

The CBeebies television series Apple Tree House began filming its episodes on the Devons Estate in 2017.