Stansted was a Saxon settlement (the name means ‘stony place’ in Anglo-Saxon) and predates the Norman Invasion of England, although it was not until this invasion that it acquired the suffix Mountfitchet from the Norman baron who settled here. 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.

By the end of the Second World War Stansted Mountfitchet, was a self-contained community with a population of about 3,000. With some 64 shops, a full range of services, sports and recreational organisations and bus and rail transport, this provided a centre to serve the surrounding agricultural area.

Development since then has seen the population grow to approximately 7,000. The range of shops has been reduced as shopping patterns have changed. A wide range of businesses contribute to the economic vitality of the village and the village was named as the UK’s fourth most internet-friendly town in the Google eTown Awards which recognised the top places where businesses are most actively embracing the web.