The station opened as South Woodford (George Lane) in 1856 as part of the Eastern Counties Railway, transferring to the LNER in 1923. It was eventually transferred to the London Underground’s Central Line in 1947, and underwent considerable renovations in 2006, 150 years after its first opening.

The suffix George Lane was officially dropped in 1947 upon transfer to the Underground but, unusually, still remains on the station’s nameplate roundels.

The Woodford area has origins dating back at least to the Saxon period.