Bishops Stortford (Herts) History
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The ancient town of Bishops Stortford has a long and interesting history. Evidence has been discovered that proves Man inhabited the region 250,000 years ago during a warm period of the ice age.

The town of Stortford took its origin from and has developed around the Ford over the river which is known today as the Stort. Stortford is not as some people believe, named after the river in fact, probably the river is named after the town. It is believed that the name "Stort" has derived from a family or clan called "Steorta" who lived and ruled the vicinity of Stort during Saxon times.

In 1060 the town and its castle were sold to the Bishops of London and it was then known as "Bishops Estereferd " and eventually Bishop's Stortford.

In the 13th century the town became a pawn in various disputes between the King and the Pope, the King ceased the town from the Bishop and ordered the destruction of the castle in 1208, although later in 1214 he had to pay for it to be rebuilt.

Ideally located in rural Hertfordshire and on the border with Essex, Bishops Stortford developed as a thriving market town during the Middle Ages and had a population of over 2,000 by the year 1800. It became a staging post on the mail coach routes between London and Cambridge and London and Newmarket. It is famed for it's hostels of which a large number still exist today. The town's prosperity was further enhanced by the opening of the Stort to navigation in 1769.

By the 1850's the population had more than doubled to over 5,000. The opening of a railway line cemented Bishops Stortford's importance as a market town and as a commuter area to London.

By the turn of the century the population was 7,000 and by 1950 it had exceeded 12,000. Following the development of Thorley Park in 1991 Bishops Stortford had a population of more than 27,000.

Cecil Rhodes, the founder of Rhodesia, later to become Zimbabwe, was the 7th child of the vicar of St. Michael's Church in Bishops Stortford, born in 1853 he lived at Netteswell House which now houses the Rhodes Memorial Museum. They are many rooms containing photographs of Rhodes, displays of African tools, weapons, basket work and jewellery. His birth room has been furnished and decorated as it would have been during Victorian times. Cecil Rhodes was educated at the Grammar School in the High Street. He eventually went to Natal to work with his brother and then to Kimberley to work his brothers diamond claims. By 1876 his fortune had been made and he went on to become a financier, Statesman and empire builder.

Other places of historical interest in Bishops Stortford include: St Michael's Church, Windhill which is set on the hill above the Fording place of the River Stort. The Church is exceptionally large, 52 meters long and it's spire an amazing 56 meters high can be seen for many miles around. Bishops Stortford's local history museum Apton Road. This fine museum is run by Bishops Stortford and District Local History Society. It is open from May to September on Fridays and the first Sunday of each month. Exhibitions are frequently changed and include archaeological finds, family histories and photographic records.

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