Bow Church is the parish church of St Mary and Holy Trinity, Stratford, Bow. It is located on a central reservation site in Bow Road (part of the A11), in Bow, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. There has been a church on the same site for approximately 700 years. The church was bombed in the Second World War, and the bell tower was reconstructed just after the war. History The church (as a chapel of ease) was licensed by Bishop Ralph Baldock of London on 17 November 1311 for the people of Stratford-at-Bow within the parish of Stepney. Before this, local people were obliged to travel to St Dunstan's, Stepney, to attend church. This was a difficult journey - especially in winter - when the road was cut off by flooding. In the 14th century, they felt confident and wealthy enough to petition for their own place of worship. The chapel of ease allowed them to practise their religion locally, but they were still obliged to attend St Dunstan's at Stepney on religious holidays and to pay for its upkeep. In 1497, following a dispute about the terms of this arrangement, an agreement was then reached, whereby the people of Bow promised to acknowledge themselves as parishioners of Stepney and agreed to pay 24 shillings annually for repairs of the mother church, and to dispense with their attendance there, except on the feast of Saint Dunstan, and on the Wednesday in Whitsunweek, when they were to accompany the rest of the parishioners in procession to Saint Paul's Cathedral. In 1556 at Bow, during the reign of Mary I of England, and under the authority of Edmund Bonner, Bishop of London, many people were brought by cart from Newgate and burned at the stake in front of Bow Church in one of the many swings of the English Reformation. These included the thirteen Stratford Martyrs. In 1719, the parish became independent and St Mary, Stratford, Bow, was consecrated. The parish also included the Old Ford area which has also been known as North Bow. In 1767, the church became the resting place of Colonel Philip Ludwell III, the earliest known convert to Eastern Orthodoxy in America. Although the church was Anglican, he was buried according to the funeral rites of the Orthodox Church. The last burial in the churchyard was in 1854, and it was re-ordered as a public