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A Topographical Dictionary of England (1831) by Samuel Lewis

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"WALDEN (SAFFRON), a parish and market-town (incorporated), possessing separate jurisdiction, locally in the hundred of Uttlesford, county of ESSEX, 27 miles (N. N. W.) from Chelmsford, and 42 (N. N. E.) from London. The population, in 1821, was 4154, but now amounts to nearly 4500.

The name of Walden is said to be derived from the Saxon words Weald and Den, signifying a woody hill. At a later period the place was called Waldenburgh; and, in the reign of Stephen, when Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, procured from the Empress Matilda the grant of a market, previously held at Newport, the town took the appellation of Cheping-Walden. The present designation owes its origin to the culture of saffron in the neighbourhood, which is supposed to have been introduced by Sir Thomas Smith, early in the sixteenth century, but has long since been discontinued: the device of the seal of the corporation is a rebus on the name, being three saffron flowers walled in.

The Earl of Essex, above-mentioned, was the grandson of Geoffrey de Mandeville, a Norman chief, and one of the most distinguished followers of William I.: he founded a Benedictine priory, near the south-western extremity of the parish, which was richly endowed, and, in 1190, converted into an abbey; its revenue, at the time of the suppression, amounted, according to Speed, to £406. 5. 11. In 1537, William More, the last abbot, surrendered the abbey, with all its possessions, to the king, who granted them to Sir Thomas Audley, afterwards Lord Chancellor, K.G., and created Baron Audley of Walden. Upon the site of the monastic buildings, and partly out of the ruins, Thomas, first Earl of Suffolk, in 1603, erected a stately fabric, which he called Audley End, in honour of his maternal grandfather, the chancellor; but of this magnificent house, which occupied thirteen years in completing, and was considered the largest mansion within the realm, one court only remains, and even this comparatively small portion of the original building forms a splendid residence. Upon the death of Henry, tenth Earl of Suffolk, in 1745, without issue, the Audley End estates were divided between George William, Earl of Bristol, and Elizabeth, Countess of Portsmouth, as representatives of the daughters and co-heirs of James, third Earl of Suffolk. Lady Portsmouth gave her share of the property, together with the house, in 1762, to her nephew. Sir John Griffin Griffin, K.B., who, in 1784, established his claim, in the female line, to the ancient barony of Howard de Walden; and, dying in 1797, bequeathed his estates to Richard, Lord Braybrooke, the father of the present possessor of Audley End. Walden contains several good streets, and a spacious market-place, in which there is a neat town hall: the houses are principally built of lath and plaster, and some of them are very ancient.

The situation of the town is thus emphatically described by Dr. Stukeley: "A narrow tongue of land shoots itself out like a promontory, encompassed with a valley, in the form of a horse-shoe, enclosed by distant and delightful hills. On the bottom of the tongue, towards the east, stand the ruins of the castle, and on the top, or extremity, the church, the greater part of which is seen above the surrounding houses." The trade in malt and barley is very considerable.

The market is on Saturday; and fairs are held annually on Mid-Lent Saturday and November 1st. By the first charter of incorporation, in 1549, the government of the town was vested in twenty persons, a treasurer and two chamberlains being chosen annually from this number but the present corporation, as re-modelled by the charter of William and Mary, consists of a mayor, recorder, twelve aldermen, deputy recorder, coroner, town clerk, and other officers. The mayor, and his immediate predecessor, and the two senior aldermen, are magistrates, ex officio; the county justices possessing (if they think proper to exercise their right) a concurrent jurisdiction. The sessions are held quarterly, and the court appears, from old records, to possess the power of inflicting capital punishment, which was acted upon more than once in the seventeenth century. A court is also held; every three weeks, for the recovery of debts under £10, at which the mayor, or his deputy, presides, assisted by one of the aldermen. The courts leet and baron for the manors of Brook and Cheping-Walden, belonging to the owner of Audley End, take place at stated times, and at one of these constables are nominated. The magistrates for the division also hold their sessions in the town, once a fortnight.

The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Colchester, and diocese of London, rated in the king's books at £33. 6. 8., and in the patronage of Lord Braybrooke. The church, which is a spacious and elegant structure, was erected in the reigns of Henry VI. and VII.; it has an embattled tower and clerestory windows, and two octagonal crocketed turrets, at the east end of the nave. The spire, which was of wood, and much decayed, has been recently removed, and will be replaced by one of stone, more in character, in every respect, with the rest of the building. The east and south ends of the chancel were erected by Chancellor Audley, and the north side by the inhabitants, aided by John Leche, who was vicar from 1489 to 1521, and whose tomb may still be seen near, the north chancel door: the chancellor's monument of black marble, is placed under the east window of the south chancel.

The General Baptists, Society of Friends, Independents, Wesleyan Methodists, and Unitarians, have their respective places of worship within the town.

The school, in which the classics were formerly taught, owes its foundation to John Leche, before mentioned, and his sister, Johane Bradbury. The learned Sir Thomas Smith, Secretary to Edward VI., a native of Walden, is said to have received his early education here, and through his interest the school was advanced to be a royal foundation: its present income is £74, and the master has a residence. All children born at Walden, Newport, Little Chesterford, or Widdington, are taught, gratuitously, subject only to an entrance fee of four pence. The school-room has lately been repaired, and one hundred and forty boys are now instructed on the National system. There is also a school for one hundred girls, similarly conducted.

A range of almshouses is nearly completed, at the south-west end of the town, to replace those founded by Edward VI., for the reception of sixteen decayed housekeepers of each sex, which had been long considered too much dilapidated to admit of reparation. The elevation of the new buildings is handsome and appropriate, and will add much to the general appearance of the town, as well as to the comforts of the inmates; the charity is under the management of the corporation.

There are also many other benefactions belonging to the parish, which are all properly administered. Between the town and Audley End Park are the remains of an old embankment, called "The Pell Ditches," respecting which there is no clear or satisfactory tradition. Dr. Stukeley found the south bank to be seven hundred and thirty feet long, twenty feet high, fifty broad at the base, and eight at the top: the length of the western bank is five hundred and eighty-eight feet: both banks and ditches are well preserved and extremely bold. The ruins of the castle, erected soon after the Conquest, by Geoffrey de Mandeville, are only remarkable for the thickness of the walls and the rude character of the building. The hamlet of Little Walden, containing a few straggling houses, stands a mile and a half from the town, on the Linton road.

The parish contains seven thousand two hundred and ninety-six acres.

Lord Thomas Howard, afterwards Earl of Suffolk, in 1597, took his title of baron from this town, which has descended to the present Lord Howard de Walden, in right of his mother, who was granddaughter to Frederic, fourth Earl of Bristol; the barony, being a female honour, has, at different periods, been disunited from each of the above earldoms."

From Samuel Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of England (1831) - copyright Mel Lockie 2016