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Places to stay in Bishops Stortford
The ancient town of Bishops Stortford has a long and interesting history. Evidence has been discovered that proves Man inhabited the region 250,000 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. 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. Bishops Stortford's 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.
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