Stansted Mountfitchet

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Stansted Mountfitchet






Statistics
Population:	5,533 (2001)
Ordnance Survey
OS grid reference:	TL513244
Administration
District:	Uttlesford
Shire county:	Essex
Region:	East of England
Constituent country:	England
Sovereign state:	United Kingdom
Other
Ceremonial county:	Essex
Historic county:	Essex
Services
Police force:	Essex Police
Fire and rescue:	{{{Fire}}}
Ambulance:	East of England
Post office and telephone
Post town:	BISHOP'S STORTFORD
Postal district:	CM24
Dialling code:	01279
Politics
UK Parliament:
European Parliament:	East of England

Stansted Mountfitchet is a village and civil parish in the county of Essex, England, near the Hertfordshire border, 30 miles north of London. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 5,533.

Stansted was a Saxon settlement (the name means 'stony place' in Saxon) and pre-dates the Norman invasion of England, although it wasn't until this invasion that it inherited the suffix Mountfitchet, from the Norman baron who settled there. 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, and subsequently by the Romans and Vikings, construction of the Norman castle began in 1066.

The village also boasts the House on the Hill Toy Museum, which is the largest toy museum in Europe. Located next to the castle, it opened in 1991 and holds over 80,000 toys, mostly from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Stansted is also known internationally as the home of LostCousins, one of the UK's leading genealogy websites.

During the Second World War, the US Air Force constructed an airfield near the village. After the war ended, it was subsequently taken over by the Government and developed as a commercial airport. Today, Stansted Airport is accessible by road from Junction 8 of the M11 motorway, near Bishop's Stortford and direct by train from London Liverpool Street.