Saffron Walden, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex

Parish History
Saffron walden St mary is an Ancient parish within the market town in Essex.Other places in the parish include: Audley End, Little Walden, and North End.

St. Mary the Virgin dates mainly from the end of the 15th century, when the previously existing and smaller church was extensively rebuilt in flint. In 1769 it was damaged by lightning and the repairs, carried out in the 1790s, removed many of the medieval features. The present spire was added in 1832 to replace an older ‘lantern’ tower. The church is 183 feet (56 m) long and the spire 193 feet (59 m) high, and is the tallest in Essex. WALDEN, SAFFRON (St. Mary), an incorporated market-town possessing separate jurisdiction, a parish, and the head of a union, locally in the hundred of Uttlesford, N. division of Essex, 27 miles (N. N. W.) from Chelmsford, and 40 (N. N. E.) from London; containing 5111 inhabitants. The name Walden is said to be deriyed from the Saxon words Weald and Den, signifying a woody valley. At a latter period the place was called Waldenburgh; and in the reign of Stephen, when Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, procured from the Empress Maud the grant of a market, previously held at Newport, the town took the appellation of Cheping-Walden. The present prefix owes its origin to the former culture of saffron in the neighbourhood: the device of the corporation seal is a rebus on the name, being three saffron flowers walled in. The Earl of Essex, above mentioned, who was grandson of Geoffrey de Mandeville, one of the most distinguished followers of William I., 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 Dissolution amounted, according to Speed, to £406. 5. 11.; and the abbey, with all its possessions, was granted by the king to Sir Thomas Audley, K.G., afterwards lord chancellor, 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. Of this magnificent house, which occupied thirteen years in completing, and was considered the largest mansion within the realm, one court only remains, but even this comparatively small portion of the original building forms a splendid residence. Lord Braybrooke, the present possessor, has greatly improved the estate. The town is beautifully situated in a district abounding with interesting scenery. It contains several good streets, and a spacious market-place, in which is a neat town-hall. The old houses are principally built of lath and plaster, and some of them are very ancient; the more modern ones are of brick, and recent improvements have materially altered the general appearance of the place: a bridge has been built over the Slade, and some pleasant promenades have been opened for the inhabitants. In 1848, a company purchased some premises contiguous to the market-place, with a view to erect on the site a large com-exchangc,a post-office, savings'-bank, and public reading-room. The situation of the town is thus graphically 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, inclosed 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." A scientific and literary institution has been established, and there are horticultural and other societies. The railway from London to Cambridge passes on the east of the town and Audley-End. The trade in malt and barley is very considerable. The market is on Saturday; fairs are held on Mid-Lent Saturday and November 1st, and a fair for sheep and lambs on the 3rd and 4th of August, which is much frequented. By a charter granted in 1549, the control of the town was vested in twenty persons; the government was remodelled by William and Mary, and under the act 5th and 6th of William IV., cap. 76, the corporation at present consists of a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve councillors. The number of magistrates is two, besides the mayor, late mayor, and recorder, who are justices ex officio. Sessions are held quarterly, under a grant from His late Majesty; and a court of record occurs every three weeks, for the recovery of debts and the determination of pleas to any amount, at which the recorder presides. The powers of the county debt-court of Saffron-Walden, established in 1847, extend over the registration-districts of Saffron-Walden and Linton. The courts leet and baron for the manors of Brook and Chipping-Walden, belonging to the owner of Audley-End, take place at stated times; and the magistrates for the division have their petty-sessions in the town, once a fortnight. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £33. 6. 8., and in the patronage of Lord Braybrooke, the impropriator. The tithes have been commuted for £710. 18. payable to the impropriator, £300 to the vicar, £30 to the trustees of Edward VI.'s almshouses in the town, and £20 to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge: there are 5 acres of vicarial glebe. The church, which was erected in the reigns of Henry VI. and VII., is a spacious structure in the later English style, with a lofty square embattled tower, strengthened by double buttresses of five stages, and surmounted by a lofty crocketed spire of recent erection. The western front is of imposing grandeur, having over the central doorway a handsome window of three, and at the extremities of the aisles windows of five, lights, of elegant design, and at the angles of the building enriched buttresses terminating in pinnacles. The interior is beautifully arranged; the nave is lighted by clerestory windows, and separated from the aisles by clustered columns that support the roof, which, like that of the chancel and aisles, is richly groined. The altar is embellished with a fine painting of the Holy Family, after Correggio. The middle and south chancels were erected by Chancellor Audley, and the north chancel 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. There are places of worship for General Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents, Wesleyan Methodists, and Unitarians.

From: 'Walden - Walgrave', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 436-439. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51369&amp;amp;strquery=saffron walden Date accessed: 15 February 2011.

Administered by Safrron Walden Town Council. The town is divided into three wards: Audley (named after Audley End house) represents the west area of Saffron Walden including the village of Audley End; Castle takes its name from Saffron Walden Castle and represents the north area of Saffron Walden, the village of Little Walden and the large rural areas north of the Town; Shire (formerly Plantation) represents the southern part of Saffron Walden. Sewards End was once a ward, but it has recently become its own Parish.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
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Census records
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Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Essex Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
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Web sites
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