Stansted Mountfitchet is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

Uttlesford Uttlesford is a local government district in Essex, England. Its council is based in the market town of Saffron Walden. At the 2011 Census, the population of the district was 79,443. Other notable settlements include Great Dunmow, Elmdon, S ...

district,

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

, near the

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...

border, north of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 5,533, increasing to 6,011 at the 2011 census. The village is served by Stansted Mountfitchet railway station. Stansted Mountfitchet is situated in north-west Essex near the Hertfordshire border and 3 miles (5 km) north of

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated popu ...

Stansted Airport London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London. London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acro ...

is from the village. The village has three primary schools (Bentfield Primary School, St Mary's (C of E) Primary School and Magna Carta Primary Academy) and one high school which was renamed the Forest Hall School in September, 2013.

History

Stansted was a

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

settlement (the name means 'stony place' in Anglo-Saxon) that predates the

Norman conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conq ...

. In the 1086

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

, Stansted was in the ancient

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

. It was one of many villages and manors controlled by the powerful Robert Gernon de Montfichet (from

Montfiquet Montfiquet () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. Population See also *Communes of the Calvados department The following is a list of the 528 communes An intentional community is a ...

Calvados Calvados (, , ) is a brandy from Normandy in France, made from apples or pears, or from apples with pears. History In France Apple orchards and brewers are mentioned as far back as the 8th century by Charlemagne. The first known record of Nor ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

), so began to be referred to as Stansted Mountfitchet to differentiate it from similarly named places. A small remnant of his castle remains, around which a reconstruction of an early Norman castle has been built. Believed to have been fortified originally in the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

, and subsequently by the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

and

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

, construction of the Norman castle began in 1066. Lord Mountfitchet is also considered the 11th century builder of

Montfichet's Tower Montfichet's Tower (also known as Montfichet's Castle and/or spelt Mountfitchet's or Mountfiquit's) was a Norman fortress on Ludgate Hill in London, between where St Paul's Cathedral and City Thameslink railway station now stand. First docume ...

. St Mary the Virgin's Church, built in the 1120s, is a redundant church under the care of the

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

. The brick west tower was added in 1692. A

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently. Often a chapel of ease is deliberately bu ...

dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist was built in 1889 nearer the centre of the village and is now the village church. Stansted Hall was built in 1871.

Landmarks

Other village attractions include the House on the Hill Toy Museum, which its owners claim "is the largest toy museum in the World". Located next to Mountfitchet Castle and Norman Village of 1066, both attractions are owned by Alan Goldsmith. The museum opened in 1991 and holds over 80,000 toys, mostly from the 1950s to the 1990s. A working

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and other applications, in some ...

built in 1787 is in the village, and is open to the public once a month. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, the

US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sig ...

constructed an

airfield An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

near the village. After the war ended, it was subsequently taken over by the government and developed as a commercial airport. Today,

London Stansted Airport London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London. London Stansted serves over 160 destinations a ...

is accessible by road from Junction 8 of the

M11 motorway The M11 is a motorway that runs north from the North Circular Road (A406) in South Woodford to the A14, northwest of Cambridge, England. Originally proposed as a trunk road as early as 1915, various plans were considered throughout the 1960 ...

, near

and direct by train from London Liverpool Street.

Economy

In March 2013, Stansted Mountfitchet was named as the UK's fourth most internet-friendly town. The Google eTown Awards recognise the top places where businesses are most actively embracing the web and Stansted's high ranking reflects the increased use of the internet to spur economic growth. The results put Stansted in fourth place behind Richmond, in third, Edinburgh, in second, and Stratford upon Avon, which took the top spot.

Titan Airways Titan Airways is a British charter airline founded in 1988 and based at London Stansted Airport. The carrier specialises in short-notice ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance) and wet lease operations as well as ad-hoc passenger and ...

has its head office in Enterprise House on the property of

. Several defunct airlines had their head offices on the Stansted property. AirUK (later

KLM uk KLM uk was the brand name of a British airline subsidiary of KLM, which operated services within the UK and between the UK and the Netherlands using ATR-72, Fokker 50 and Fokker 100 aircraft. KLM uk had its headquarters in the Stansted House ...

) had its head office in Stansted House.

Buzz Buzz may refer to: People *Buzz (nickname), a list of people * J. Buzz Von Ornsteiner (born 1967; aka ''Dr. Buzz''), American forensic psychologist and journalist Fictional characters *Buzz, a character in the 1987 American comedy movie '' Rev ...

had its head office in Endeavour House.

AB Airlines AB Airlines was an airline with its head office in the Enterprise House on the property of London Stansted Airport in Uttlesford, Essex.Lloyd International Airways Lloyd International Airways Ltd was a private, British independentindependent from government-owned corporations airline formed in 1961 to operate worldwide charter flights. It commenced operations with a single Douglas DC-4 piston airliner from ...

had its head office at Lloyd House.

Go Fly Go Fly (styled and trading as Go) was the name of a British low-cost airline, founded by British Airways in 1998. It operated flights between London Stansted Airport and destinations in Europe. The airline was purchased from BA in a management ...

had its head office at Enterprise House. Until it merged with Lastminute.com in 2006, Travelocity.co.uk had its headquarters in Stansted Mountfitchet and employed around 60 Essex and Hertfordshire locals. The office closed in the early part of 2006 and Travelocity.co.uk formally came under the umbrella of Lastminute.com, who has offices in London and Woking, Surrey.

Sport and leisure

Non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is s ...

club

Stansted F.C. Stansted Football Club is an English football club based in Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex. The club are currently members of the and play at Hargrave Park. History There are references to the club existing in 1892, but the founding date is put a ...

(winners of the

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, usually referred to as the FA Vase, is an annual football competition for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English National League System (or equivalently, tier 9 or 10 of the overall English footb ...

in 1983-84) play at the Hargrave Park sports ground in the village and there is also a cricket club based at the ground.

Notable people

* Actor

James Frain James Dominic Frain is an English stage and screen actor. His best known television roles include Thomas Cromwell in the Showtime/ CBC historical drama ''The Tudors'' (2007–2009), Franklin Mott in the HBO drama ''True Blood'' (2010), Warwi ...

was raised in Stansted Mountfitchet. *

Munroe Bergdorf Munroe Bergdorf ( Beaumont; born 11 September 1987) is an English model and activist. She has walked several catwalks for brands including Gypsy Sport at both London and NYC Fashion Weeks. Bergdorf was the first transgender model in the UK for L ...

, model and activist.

References

External links

Stansted Mountfitchet Parish Council

{{authority control Villages in Essex Civil parishes in Essex Uttlesford