Bishop's Stortford is situated approximately midway between London and Cambridge on the edge of East Hertfordshire's border. Its environs have supported a variety of ancient settlements from Stone Age through to Iron Age and, between the first and early fifth century AD, a small Romano-British settlement existed just north of the present town centre – itself established as a settlement by the Saxons soon after they invaded Britain in 449 AD. Little is recorded of the Saxon period locally, only that the Manor of Esterteferd (later corrupted to Stortford) was once owned by a Saxon woman named Eddeva Pulchrima. She sold it around 1060 to the Bishop of London – hence its prefix.
The settlement's all important river crossing made it a haven for travellers early on, and the creation of a market soon brought trade and prosperity to the area. At the time of the Norman Conquest (1066), the town's population has been estimated at no more than 150, increasing to around 700 by the 13th century. This number then grew steadily but was substantially reduced on each of the three occasions that plague struck the town: 1348–9, 1582–3 and 1666. By the 17th century the present form of the town had been established and its natural position at the centre of vast cereal growing lands led to the creation of a malting industry. Such was the scale of this industry that the Stort Navigation was built in 1769 to accommodate it, and prior to 1800 Bishop's Stortford supplied more malt to the London brewers of porter than any other town in England.
In the 18th century a livestock market (described in 1752 as 'the finest in East Anglia') grew up alongside the general market, and in the 19th century two of the town's most famous sons were born: Cecil Rhodes – the founder of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and Walter Gilbey – best remembered, nationally, as the founder of Gilbey’s Gin. Also born in Bishop's Stortford early that same century was Frederick Scott Archer. He is credited with making the art of photography readily available to the masses long before Eastman's Kodak camera made its entrance. Unlike Rhodes and Gilbey, though, he received very little recognition, made no fortune, died young, and was buried in a pauper’s grave.
Bishop’s Stortford today, retains the charm of a market town and many of its old buildings and has become an important hub for commuters into London and to the nearby Stansted Airport.