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Local Councils

Bishops Stortford Town Council
The Old Monastery, Wind Hill, Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire CM23 2ND.
Tele: 01279 652274.

East Hertfordshire District Council
Council Offices, 2 The Causeway, Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire CM2 2EJ.
Tele: 01279 652261.

Emergency Services

Police Station
Basbow Lane, High Street, Bishops Stortford.
Telephone: 01992 587711

St. Margaret's Hospital
The Plain, Epping, Essex
Telephone: 01992 561666

Princess Alexandra Hospital
Hamstel Road, Harlow, Essex
Telephone: 01279 444455

Other Information

Magistrates Court
The Court House, High Street, Bishops Stortford.
Tele: 01992 556531

The Library
The Causeway, Adderley Road.
Tele: 01279 654946

Tourist Information Centre
Bishops Stortford Town Council Offices, The Old Monastery, (through the Courtyard), Windhill, Bishops Stortford.
Tele: 01279 652274

Social Services
Social Services is handled by Hertfordshire County Council.

Hertfordshire County Council
County Hall
Pegs Lane
Hertford
SG13 8DQ

Adult Care Services* - (01438) 737400
(If calling from 01923 and 020(8) areas, call (01923) 471400 instead.)
Children, Schools and Families* - (01438) 737500
(If calling from 01923 and 020(8) areas, call (01923) 471500 instead.)

*Also for urgent calls outside office hours, about the welfare of an adult or child.

E-mail: hertsdirect@hertscc.gov.uk

HM Inspector of Taxes
Anglia House, Bishops Stortford Business Centre, Hallingbury Road, Bishops Stortford, CM23 5LY.
Tele: 01279 653105

Bus Depots
Eastern National Limited, Station Road, Passengers Enquiries.
Tele: 01245 353104

London County Bus Service Limited
Tele: 01279 426349.

Citizens Advice Bureau
74 South Street, Bishops Stortford.
Tele: 01279 655363
Early closing day - Wednesday

Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths
2 Hockerill Street, Bishops Stortford.
Tele: 01279 652273 (marriages)
Tele: 01279 651318 (births and deaths).

Car Parks
Adderley Road (Multi Storey),
Anchor Street,
Apton Road,
Basbow Lane,
British Rail, Station Road,
Hockerill (Crown Terrace),
Link Road (The Causeway),
Riverside (Near Sainsbury's),
The Causeway.
Parking Season Tickets available via East Hertfordshire District Council
Tele: 01279 655261.

Swimming Pool
Grange Paddocks, Rye Street.
Tele: 01279 652332.

Hospitals and Health Centres

NHS Direct - 0845 4647 (This 4 digit number is correct)

Hertfordshire and Essex Hospital, Hayseeds Lane, Bishops Stortford. (No A/E)
Tele: 01279 655191

Princess Alexandra Hospital, Hamstel Road, Harlow.
Tele: 01279 444455

St Margaret's Hospital, The Plain, Epping.
Tele: 01992 561666

Health Centre and Dental Clinic, Market Square, Bishops Stortford.
Tele: 01279 652745

Family Planning Clinic, Hertfordshire and Essex Hospital, Bishops Stortford.
Tele: 01279 657759

Doctors Surgeries

NHS Direct - 0845 4647 (This 4 digit number is correct)

Bishops Park Health Centre, Lancaster Way. (Part of the South Street Group)
Tele: 01279 710800

Church Street Partnership, 30a Church Street.
Tele: 01279 657636

Dr.P.J. Hickman, Highcroft Surgery, 27 Thorley Hill.
Tele: 01279 657684

The South Street Surgery, 83 South Street.
Tele: 01279 710800

The Stansted Surgery, 86 St Johns Road, Stansted.
Tele: 01279 813200

Thorley Health Clinic, Villiers-sur-Marne Avenue.
Tele: 01279 506610

Dental Practices

Dental Surgery, 52 Chantry Road.
Tele: 01279 654112

Eyles and Dodsley, 2 Woodfields, Stansted.
Tele: 01279 815041

Paul Kletz and David Sher and Associates (The Dentist), 66 South Street. CM23 3AZ.
Tele: 01279 505060

The Limes Dental Practice, 30 Stansted Road.
Tele: 01279 652400

Thorley Neighbourhood Centre, Villiers-sur-Marne Avenue.
Tele: 01279 507695

Oasis Dental Care, 36 Hadham Road.
Tele: 01279 755720

A little local history

The ancient town of Bishops Stortford has a long and interesting history. Evidence has been discovered that proves Man inhabited the region 250 million 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 seized 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 Bishop's Stortford 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. Bishop's Stortford 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.