The great glory of Saffron Walden is the Parish Church
of St. Mary, one of the largest in Essex  and
one of the most ornate and rich in its design. Indeed, in its richness
of style, it is more typical of some of the great churches of Suffolk
or Cambridgeshire than of those of Essex.
We do not know whether there was a church on this site in the late
Saxon period, but it is likely that there was a stone church here
from at least the Norman period, when the hilltop was laid out with
the castle and its defensive works. The present structure was wholly
rebuilt between 1450 and 1525 with the exception of the 13th century
arcades between chancel and chapels and the crypt below the south
aisle and porch. A contract for much of the work (dated 1485) still
exists and this names Samuel Clerk and John Wastell as masons, the
latter one of the most distinguished English stonemasons of his
generation.
The church is nearly 200 feet in length, 80 feet wide and its beautifully
proportioned and pinnacled spire soars to 193 feet, a landmark over
a wide area of this part of Essex. The west tower itself is of the
Perpendicular period and when built it was capped by a wooden lantern
placed here by Henry Winstanley (a local man) as an experimental
‘try-out’ prior to his first design and construction
of the Eddystone lighthouse. The present spire was built in 1832
to the designs of Rickman and Hutchinson who were then working on
buildings at St. John’s College, Cambridge.
Other external features of note include rich embattlements and pinnacles
of the aisles, clerestory and chancel chapels and the two-storeyed
south porch, also embattled and pinnacled.
The interior is extremely lofty so that the fine and original roofs,
with their carved tie-beams and carved and painted bosses are not
too easily seen. The font is of the early 16th century; there is
a small fragment of 15th century sculpture in the south porch; the
screen dates from 1924 and was designed by Sir Charles Nicholson
whilst the organ case is unusual in that whilst one side is in a
‘Gothic’ design of 1825, the other was rebuilt to a
design of Bodley in 1885. The stained glass is mostly mid 19th century
whilst the most elaborate monument is that, dated 1544, to Thomas
Audley, Lord Chancellor. It is of black marble, designed by Cornelius
Harman, and is not unlike the style of the tomb of Henry VII in
Westminster Abbey.
Although none is so grand as St. Mary’s the other churches
in the town are of some interest. Oldest is the present United Reformed
Church which was built as a Congregational Chapel in 1811 and boasts
a large Ionic four-columned porch. The Congregational Church was
probably started in the 17th century by Jonathan Paine, son of the
vicar of Bishop’s Stortford. Baptists were in the locality
in 1653 and a Baptist congregation met in Gold Street in 1708.
In Castle Street is the Roman Catholic Church, which was established
in 1906 within the walls of a 15th century timber-framed barn that
had originally been part of ‘The Close’, a building
used by parish church clergy. The present church contains a rather
fine Triptych reredos.
In the town’s early days, the Castle shared pride of place
on the hilltop with the church. Built in about 1125 by Geoffrey
de Mandeville, it had a rather short life and was, indeed, already
neglected and part-ruined by the 14th century. All that can be seen
today are fragments of 12th century rubble walls and a ruin of the
40 foot square keep.
Within the area of the Castle’s inner bailey is Saffron Walden
Museum, one of the oldest purpose-built museums in the country.
The Museum opened in 1835 and its collections, owned by Saffron
Walden Museum Society Ltd, are surprisingly wide-ranging. Here visitors
can find out about the rocks and fossils, archaeology, local history
and natural history of north-west Essex, and also explore collections
from much further afield. There are important displays of world
cultures (ethnography), ceramics and glass, alongside costume, woodwork
and traditional building methods, Ancient Egypt and more exotic
wildlife, including the ever-popular lion Wallace. There is a programme
of special exhibitions and activities. The Museum is open every
day except Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, 10 – 5 Mondays
– Saturdays and 2 – 5 Sundays and Bank Holidays (4.30
closing November – February).
Of historic interest, too, are the Almshouses along Park Lane between
Saffron Walden and Audley End - the survivor of a late Elizabethan
building. The charity that founded the almshouses - originally the
College of St. Mark was founded by John and Elizabeth Butler back
in 1400 and this early document still exists as one of the town’s
prized possessions. The building was in the form of two courtyards
each with ten dwellings, rather in the style of a college at Oxford
or Cambridge. After 1633 the buildings fell into disrepair but in
1832-4 new almshouses on another site were erected - with additions
later in the 19th century as well as in 1954. The central features
are the hall and chapel built in the Tudor style. The original buildings,
neglected for many decades, were restored in the late 1940s when
the chapel was rebuilt. In its windows are fragments of stained
glass, some from the former Walden Abbey and some of the latter
part of the 14th century.
Also of early foundation is the Grammar School which dates from
1522. It was founded by Dame Johane Bradbury and the original building
with 60 pupils, flanked the churchyard wall. It was replaced in
1655 by premises in Castle Street and these, in part, still exist
today. Eventually, after some rather troubled years, new buildings
were opened in 1881 in Ashdon Road and these continued in use until
the Second World War. Now they are used by the Dame Johane Bradbury
School, an establishment for small children but, rather aptly, taking
the name of the person who first brought education to the town.
In Mount Pleasant Road is another of the town’s oldest scholastic
establishments - The Friends’ School, a Quaker foundation
that dates back to 1702 when it was founded in the Clerkenwell area
of London. The move to Saffron Walden came in 1879 when the present
buildings (now well over 300 pupils) were erected of red brick and
in a Tudor style of architecture. Additions were added in 1922,
in 1961, and again in 1983.
Much more modern are the buildings in Audley End Road of the town’s
High School an extensive and very well planned establishment built
in 1953.
The central part of the town displays a richness of period houses
and shops and both the main and side streets are architecturally
pleasing. This area centres upon the Market Place where are to be
seen the Town Hall and the Corn Exchange. The former is of brick
and dates from 1761 although the half-timbered gable was added in
1879. The Corn Exchange, in an Italian style of design, dates from
1848.
The High Street is mostly of the late Georgian period and several
of its houses are of the elegant design of that period. The former
Greyhound Inn is of the mid 16th century and the Cross Keys, too,
is mostly of that century.
High Street leads past Myddlyton Place with, at the corner, the
Youth Hostel which is one of the best medieval houses in the town.
Inside is to be seen the original screen as well as features that
date from the 15th century. There are attractive old houses, too,
in Bridge Street where there is another 16th century inn, the Eight
Bells, with dolphins carved below the downstairs window.
Old houses are found in most of the side streets in this older part
of the town. The 18th century predominates in both Gold Street and
High Street where the bulky blocks of former maltings are also a
part of the scene. In King Street is a house of the 15th century
and at the corner of Market Hill and Church Street is The Old Sun
Inn of 14th century origin. This forms one of the oldest and best
architectural points in the town. It has oversailing gables and
is richly adorned with 17th century plasterwork patterns of foliage,
birds and other symbols. There are 16th century cottages in nearby
Church Path and Georgian brick fronts both here and in Castle Street,
a quiet thoroughfare of charm.
The oldest of Saffron Walden’s open spaces is The Common on
the east side of the centre and flanked by late Georgian houses.
It was a meadow on which the burgesses of former times - perhaps
even back to the Saxon period - had grazing rights and it was used
also for such events as tournaments. Today it is a 14 acre open
green with trees around its edge and, close to the eastern side,
the largest earthen maze still surviving in England. Its original
date seems to be unknown but it was recut several times in the 19th
century and again in 1911. The ‘path’ winds for about
one mile through the turf within a circle 100 feet in diameter.
Other open spaces include Jubilee Gardens and the Dorset House Rest
Garden, both in the town centre. The lovely Bridge End Garden can
be approached from either Bridge End or Castle Street. Of special
note here is The Dutch Garden, a tree-sheltered oasis of charm with
clipped hedges, flower beds fringed by box hedges, a central pond
and fountain and a yew hedge maze.
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