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Bishop's Stortford is a market town in east Hertfordshire, on the county boundary with Essex. It is situated just west of the M11 motorway, is the closest town to London Stansted Airport, and is part of the London commuter belt. Bishop's Stortford is 29 miles north east of Charing Cross in Central London. In the 2006 edition of the Channel 4 "Best and Worst Places to Live in the UK", East Hertfordshire was the seventh best district to live in. The town has a population of about 35,000 (United Kingdom Census 2001) and is administered by the East Hertfordshire district council.
There was nothing of historical significance in the Bishop's Stortford area until it became a small Roman settlement on the Roman road of Stane Street between St Albans 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 ford 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.
Despite outbreaks of the plague in the 16th century and 17th century, the town continued to grow with an approximate population of 1,200 by this point.
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[citation needed] 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 twentieth 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 Snowley. 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.
Harry Roberts was arrested in a wooded area 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.
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