The town of Bishop’s Stortford, like most of Britain’s historic towns, has an interesting past. Below you will find some of the most fascinating articles that have come to light over the years.

historical finds

While not a hotbed of historical finds, Bishop’s Stortford does have an interesting history nonetheless. With the continued development of the city, there are sure to be more discoveries, but this is what has been found so far…

In 1900, during excavations on Potter Street in Bishop’s Stortford, a tooth and tusk from a woolly mammoth were discovered.

Two Stone Age hand axes were accidentally discovered during the excavation of drains near the Red, White & Blue Public House in Hazel End. Flint arrowheads have also been found in the vicinity of Birchanger Woods.

The existence of Mesolithic man in the Bishop’s Stortford area came to light in 1962 at Silver Leys, Hadham Road, when grading the ground for a playing field revealed several worked flints consisting of long-bladed sections, dated between 8000 and the 2000 a.

the river storm

When the first cartographers arrived in the city in the early 1600s, they reasoned that the city must have been named after the ford over the Stort and assumed that the river was named Stort. It has been ever since. Until then, there was no official name for the river. The name of a river after a city is very unusual.

The Bishop’s Stortford Arsonist

In 1825, several buildings in Bishop’s Stortford burned down. This caused great alarm in the town and a committee was formed. A reward of GBP500 was offered for information on the arsonist. Several threatening letters were soon received, with a warning that “Stortford will be burned to the ground”.

Thomas Rees was arrested and found guilty on the charge of mailing the letters, but not arson. He was eventually transported to Australia as a convict.

If you know of any interesting historical facts about Bishop’s Stortford, please let us know and we will include them in this article and on our website.