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Stortford (Bishop) in Hertford County England History and GeographySTORTFORD (BISHOP), a market town and parish (formerly a borough) in the hundred of BRAUGHIN, county of HERTFORD, 14 miles (E.N.E.) from Hertford, and 30 (N.N.E.) from London, containing, according to the last census, 3358 inhabitants, now about 4500. This place derives its name from its situation on each side of a ford on the river Stort, now crossed by two bridges, and its prefix from having been bestowed by William, soon after the Conquest, upon Maurice, Bishop of London, and his successors. In the reign of Stephen, the Empress Matilda negotiated to obtain, by exchange, from the Bishop of London, the castle erected here by William the Conqueror, and not succeeding, threatened its demolition; it, however, remained till the eighth year of King John's reign, who, exasperated at the bishop's promulgation of the pope's menace of laying the kingdom under an edict, razed it to the ground, seized the town into his own hands, incorporated the inhabitants, and granted them the elective franchise, which they continued to exercise only from the fourth of Edward II. till the reign of Edward III., when their privileges ceased. In the reign of Mary, this town became the scene of religious persecution, and Bishop Bonner made use of a prison formerly attached to the castle, for the confinement of convicted Protestants, of whom one was burnt on Goose Green adjoining. The town is situated on two gentle acclivities, that on the east being called Hockerhill, in a fertile valley on the banks of the river Stort, and consists principally of four streets, in the form of a cross, of which Windhill is the western, and Hockerill the eastern, extremity. The inhabitants are well supplied with water from springs. There are a public library, instituted in 1827, and several book societies. The trade consists chiefly in malt and other grain, of which considerable quantities are sent by the river, which is navigable, and a canal, on the banks of which are commodious wharfs and quays: a silk-mill affords employment to many of the inhabitants. The market, for which a very handsome and spacious market-house, or corn-exchange, was erected in 1828, is on Thursday: this building is of the Ionic order, and the area of a semicircular form, with a colonnade supported by iron pillars: the other parts contain an assembly and coffee rooms, and magistrates' chamber, on the first floor, and underneath a spacious hall where the corn-exchange is kept: at the southern extremity are the fish, flesh, poultry, and vegetable markets. It was constructed by means of £100 shares, which promise amply to repay the subscribers. Fairs are held annually on Holy Thursday, the Thursday after Trinity-Sunday, and on the 11th of October, for horses and cattle. Bishop-Stortford is within the jurisdiction of the county magistrates, who hold a petty session every fortnight, in a room at the corn-exchange, where the public business of the town is transacted. The living is a vicarage, in the jurisdiction of the Commissary of Essex and Herts, concurrently with the Consistorial Court of the Bishop of London, rated in the king's books at £12, and in the patronage of the Precentor of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, is an elegant and spacious structure, standing at the southwest angle of the town, with a fine tower surmounted by a lofty spire; it was built in the reign of Henry VI., and partly rebuilt in 1820, and contains many ancient and curious monuments, among which is that of Chas. Denny, grandson to Sir Anthony Denny, Knt., Privy Counsellor to Henry VIII. There are places of worship for Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents, and Methodists, with which are connected Sunday schools, affording instruction to several hundred children. The free grammar school, in High-street, facing the church, was founded and endowed, in 1579, by Mrs. Margaret Dean, of London; an excellent library was presented to it by Thomas Leigh, Esq., and increased by the Rev. Thomas Leigh, vicar, and other benefactors, of which some part still remains preserved in the tower of the church: this school, in which Sir Henry Chauncey, a native of this town, and author of the History and Antiquities of Hertfordshire, was educated, has declined, nothing remaining of its former celebrity but the libraries of Leigh, the founder, and Tooke, the reviver of it on its former failure, together with the books presented by the boys on their leaving school. The National school, established in 1818, in which two hundred boys and one hundred girls are instructed, is supported by voluntary subscription. There are five newly-erected almshouses for poor people, which have been established with the proceeds of the sale of two almshouses in Potter-street, endowed by Mr. R. Pilston, in 1572; and several estates, producing about £200 per annum, are intended for the apprenticing of poor children, the relief of the poor, and the repair of the church; to which latter purpose about £60 per annum, arising from the revenue of a dissolved chantry, and some ancient guilds, formerly established here, is applied. There are some small remains of the castle, in the garden of which Roman coins have been found, and among them one of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus; and near the castle an ancient well, dedicated to St. Osyth, the water of which is esteemed beneficial in diseases of the eye. Bishop-Stortford was the birthplace of Hoole, the translator of Tasso. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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