Cortical bone development is characterised by initial formation of woven bone followed by deposition of lamellar bone on the woven scaffold. This occurs in normal bone formation as an integral obligate self-assembly pattern throughout all vertebrate groups, with specific temporal and spatial features. It also occurs in repair bone, modified by the biophysical/mechanical environment, and in pathological bone, modified by the specific disorder and its severity. Two spatially distinct osteoblast cell populations synthesise woven and lamellar bone: mesenchymal osteoblasts surround themselves circumferentially with collagen in a random array to form woven bone; surface osteoblasts align themselves in a linear array on the woven bone surface (or adjacent lamellar bone) to synthesise parallel-fibred lamellar bone. Four specific stages of woven bone formation are defined: stage I, early differentiation of pre-osteoblasts from undifferentiated mesenchymal cells; stage II, mesenchymal osteoblasts surrounding themselves in a 360° arc with randomly oriented matrix fibres; stage III, woven matrix acting as a scaffold on which surface osteoblasts begin to synthesise bone in parallel-fibred lamellar conformation; stage IV, progressive relative diminution of woven bone in the woven bone/lamellar bone complex. Stages II and IV are further subdivided (in a, b and c) by shifting cell area/matrix area and woven bone/lamellar bone relationships. The under-appreciated biological significance of woven bone is that it initiates formation de novo at sites of no previous bone. This information allows for targeted assessment of molecular-biophysical mechanisms underlying woven bone formation and their utilisation for initiating enhanced bone formation.