Geograph - photograph every grid square

The plaque is on a railway arch carrying the line from Clapton to Walthamstow and Tottenham Hale over the River Lea and the towpath. For a view of the wider scene see Link

Alliott Verdon Roe was a freelance inventor. In 1909 he rented out two of the railway arches for workshops, and in June he made a series of short jumps and then a hop of 100 feet in his triplane before making several flights of 900 feet. He was therefore the first person to fly over British soil in a British-designed machine powered by a British engine. He later formed his own company and made such famous aircraft as the Avro Lancaster.