The road is part of the historic Hertford Road, a route running north from Bishopsgate along the western side of the Lea Valley, through Stoke Newington, Tottenham, Edmonton, Ponders End, Waltham Cross, Cheshunt and Broxbourne to Hoddesdon, where it split into Hertford and Ware branches. The southern end of the Hertford Road between London and Tottenham is thought to follow the Roman Ermine Street and the northern end takes a more easterly course through Edmonton and Enfield than the built-over Roman northern section.