As a result of its location, it grew mainly as a staging post with many coaching inns and has an 18th-century one-cell prison known as The Cage, by the ford at the end of Church Street.

[2] Instead, it probably originates from the Saxon chieftain or tribe Bunta and the local ford running over the River Rib.

[6][7] Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster, relocated her market in Chipping to Buntingford in 1360,[8] under permission from Edward III.

Queen Elizabeth I is claimed to have stayed at Buntingford in a building now called the Bell House Gallery, on a coach journey to Cambridge.

[9] Just up the High Street, The Angel Inn, now a dental surgery, was a staging post for coaches travelling from London to Cambridge.

[12][13] Previously, between 1983 and 1997, Buntingford was located in the constituency of Hertford and Stortford,[14][15] which at the time was represented by Conservative Bowen Wells.

The town council is based from Buntingford Manor House[20] and elects councillors every four years.

[21][22] Before the creation of East Hertfordshire on 1 April 1974, Buntingford was part of the Braughing Rural District, which was abolished on 31 March 1974.

The Buntingford Cougars (youth grassroots) Football Tournament is held every year at The Bury, drawing in teams from around the area.

The 'World Sausage Tossing Championship' has taken place at The Countryman Inn, in Chipping near Buntingford, every August since 2014.

Buntingford is home to various independent shops, restaurants and pubs mainly located in the town's high street.

The town was previously home to the Sainsbury's Anglia Distribution Centre, but this was vacated and eventually knocked down for housing in 2014.

The site had previously been used as a Royal Army Ordnance Corps munitions factory, known locally as "the Dump".

The school was endowed again in 1684 by former pupil Seth Ward, who had become the Bishop of Salisbury, and Lady Jane Barkham.

[74] The Beehive, a pub situated at Hare Street, Buntingford, is featured in the 1981 television adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series.