Saffron Walden
An Essex market town 15 miles south of Cambridge, named for the saffron crocus once grown around it.
A saffron town
Saffron Walden is a market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, 15 miles south of Cambridge and 43 miles north of London. The saffron crocus was widely grown in the 16th and 17th centuries, and the trade gave the town its name; by the 1540s Walden had become Saffron Walden. Tuesday markets were held from 1295, and a formal market charter followed in about 1300. Oliver Cromwell stayed for 19 days in May 1647, while the town served as the New Model Army's headquarters.
What to see
Walden Castle dates from about 1140 and survives only as a ruined basement. Close by, on the common, is a turf maze whose main part is about 100 feet across; the earliest record of it dates from 1699. St Mary the Virgin church dates mainly from the end of the 15th century, when John Wastell, who was also working on King's College Chapel in Cambridge, was the master mason; the 193-foot spire was added in 1832. Bridge End Gardens, seven interlinked gardens with a maze, a rose garden and a walled garden, were laid out by the Gibson family in about 1840. A 15th-century former maltings at 1 Myddleton Place is believed to be the oldest inhabited building in the town. Sir Thomas Audley turned the cloisters of Walden Abbey into a dwelling, and the mansion that followed is Audley End House, in the same parish.
Getting there
Audley End station, 2 miles south-west of the town, is its nearest station on the London to Cambridge line. Check current train times before travelling.