Bishop's Stortford - History

History

Nothing of historical significance is known of the Bishop's Stortford area until it became a small Roman settlement on the Roman road of Stane Street between Braughing and Colchester. After the Roman Empire broke down, the small town was abandoned in the 5th century.

A new Saxon settlement grew up on the site. At that time, the settlement was known as Esterteferd, probably because a family called Estere owned or controlled the river around which the settlement was based. Over time, this became Stortford. In 1060, William, Bishop of London, bought the Stortford manor and estate for eight pounds, and the town has been known as Bishop's Stortford ever since.

At the time of the Domesday Book the town had a population of around 120 inhabitants. The Normans built a motte-and-bailey wooden castle in the town, but by the Tudor period it was in ruins (the mound still remains). Development of the town increased with the presence of a river and the roads. A weekly market was set up for farmers to sell their goods.

Only the font survives from the Norman church of St Michael's, which was completely rebuilt in the early 15th century, followed by alterations and restoration in both the 17th and 19th centuries. Both the belfry and the spire which dominates the town and surrounding countryside were built in 1812.

Despite outbreaks of the plague in the 16th and 17th centuries, the town continued to grow, with an approximate population of 1,200 by this point.

Unusually, the River Stort is named after the town, and not the town after the river. When early cartographers came to the town in the early 17th century, they reasoned that the town must have been named for the ford over the Stort and assumed the river was called the Stort. It has been ever since. Until then, there was no official name for the river.

After 1769, the River Stort was made navigable, and the town was made a stagecoach stop on the mail coach road between Cambridge and London.

By 1801, Bishop's Stortford had become a market town, and a corn exchange had been established, while the main industry was malting. In 1842 the railway came to Bishop's Stortford; another introduction of the Victorian era was the opening of a hospital, in 1895.

At the beginning of the 20th century, in 1901, the population was over 7,000. By 1951, Bishop's Stortford had expanded further, to 13,000. During World War II, Bishop's Stortford was the evacuation centre for many Britons, including the entire Clapton Girls Technology College. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, Bishop's Stortford has seen further growth since it became a commuter town. The M11 motorway, nearby Stansted Airport, and the train links to London and Cambridge have contributed to the town having a population of around 35,000, as of the 2001 national census, but future growth is expected to increase the population to 45,000.

Bishop's Stortford has six outer suburbs: Thorley, Thorley Park, Havers, Bishops Park, St Michael's Mead and Hockerill. Hockerill is, however, a separate ecclesiastical parish comprised originally of the area east of the River Stort, centred around the old coaching inns and All Saints' Church in Stansted Road and including Bishops' Stortford Railway Station. Post-war development has enlarged this area to include the Parsonage Lane, Snowley and Collins Cross suburbs, and the Herts and Essex Hospital. Little Hallingbury and Takeley, too, are within the ambit of Bishop's Stortford; they are, however, in Essex rather than Hertfordshire.

In March and April 1825, a number of buildings in Bishop's Stortford were set alight and caused great alarm in the town. A committee was formed and a £500 reward offered for information on the arsonist. Soon a number of threatening letters were received, warning in part that "Stortford shall be laid in ashes". Thomas Rees was arrested and found guilty on the charge of sending the letters, but not of arson. He was transported to Australia as a convict.

In 1935 the parish church of All Saints' Hockerill was destroyed by fire, and in 1937 a new church, to a spacious, light and airy design by the architect Stephen Dykes Bower, was erected in its place. It is a Grade II listed building and the tower dominates the eastern skyline of Bishop's Stortford. The building contains a notable rose window designed by Hugh Easton and a two-manual Henry Willis II organ; it is a popular venue for concerts.

Harry Roberts was arrested in a wooded area within the abandoned RAF Sawbridgeworth at nearby Thorley whilst on the run from the police following the shooting of three policemen in London in 1966. He was taken to Bishop's Stortford police station where he was charged and later moved to London. He was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

On 28 August 2007, two men and a teenager were shot dead at Plaw Hatch Close in Bishop's Stortford. Two women were seriously injured in the attack that was around 9:35 pm. The men killed were named as Keith Cowell, 52, and his son Matthew, 17, who died alongside 33-year-old Tony Dulieu of Billericay. Keith Cowell's wife, Nicole, had left for work at Stansted Airport 10 minutes before the attack. A three-year-old girl called 'Angel' was thought to have been in the house at the time of the shooting. Chief Superintendent Al Thomas of the Hertfordshire Police said, "We share the concern and sense of shock within the community. Early information suggests this was a targeted incident and not a random attack." Police presence was dramatically increased after the incident in and around the town. However, crime rates in the town are well below the national average.

In November 2011, by means of a single-page letter, the town council gave notice that with effect from September 2012 they would end their 46-year-old twin town status with Villiers-sur-Marne in France and Friedberg, Hesse, in Germany.