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Bishops Stortford b&b, guesthouse and hotel accommodation

Visit Bishops Stortford and the surrounding villages and stay in bed & breakfast accommodation:

Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire. This hilly town, although greatly modernized, is of medieval origin with numerous old buildings and many of the Victorian era.

The George Hotel, at the corner of High Street and North Street, is two-storied and pargeted in the old part, with an early Victorian addition of three stories. in Bridge Street is the 16^th-century. Black Lion, a picturesque building, with exposed timbers, gables and an overhanging upper story. Nearby is the equally attractive Boar's Head, and across the bridge over the River Stort are the ruins of Waytemore Castle, with a narrow 40-ft-high mount. At the top of a hill is the 17^th-century Cock Inn and in the same street are handsome l7^th-century houses and one which is late Georgian. Hockerill Training College, of red brick, is Victorian with diaper work with stone edgings.

The Corn Exchange, in the Victorian part of the town, was built in 1828 in a neo-Grecian style. The ground floor has Tuscan piers and in its upper floors is a giant Ionic portico. Bishop's Stortford College is in the Gothic style with a memorial hail of the present century which is elegantly neo-Georgian.

The Congregational church in Water Lane is an elongated building of stock-brick with two towers and Italian-style edgings.

Windmill Hill has houses and cottages of several centuries with a 17^th-century maithouse and granary attached to one group of cottages. Down Northgate End, amid large suburban houses and old cottages, is Brooke House, a fine building of white brick in three stories with lower wings and a Roman Doric doorcase.

Bishop's Stortford was the birthplace of Cecil Rhodes and in the Old Vicarage, which is now a museum, are preserved many of his possessions. These include the bed in which he was born, his bible, a watercolour he painted and his ceremonial uniforms.

There are two churches of interest. All Saints in Hockenil is of modern origin and overlooks the town, its large square tower supported by a hipped roof and with long, lancet windows. St Michael's is a large l5^th-century church with a tall, prominent spire added to the tower in 1812. The only other later additions are the tall south vestry and the north chancel chapel, both 19^th-century. The chancel stalls have poppy heads in the front seats and misericords in the back. The large screen is richly carved with two tall four-light sections on each side of the entrance. The square l2^th-century font is of Purbeck marble.

Wickham Hall, 1 ½ mile north west of the town, and Stortford Park, 1 ½ miles west, are particularly handsome farm-houses.

Nearby airports: Stansted Airport

Nearby towns: Chelmsford, Broxbourne, Buntingford, Great Dunmow, Harlow, Hertford, Hoddesdon, Saffron Walden, Ware.

Nearby villages: Much Hadham, Birchanger, Stansted Mountfitchet, Elsenham, Ugley, Quendon, Takeley, Hatfield Heath, Sheering, Sawbridgeworth, Standon, Braughing, Great Dunmow.

Have you decided to visit Bishops Stortford or the surrounding villages? Please look above for somewhere to stay in:

• a Bishops Stortford bed and breakfast (a Bishops Stortford B&B or Bishops Stortford b and b)
• a Bishops Stortford guesthouse
• a Bishops Stortford hotel (or motel)
• a Bishops Stortford self-catering establishment, or
• other Bishops Stortford accommodation