Walk through timbered streets of pattern and beauty
A spring stroll reveals the rich heritage of the medieval market town of Saffron Walden, which wears its history on the very walls of its buildings
Early spring sunshine sits low on the gently rolling hills of north Essex, and bright shafts of light sparkle on the dew covering arable fields. Nestled within the peaceful countryside, however, the ancient market town of Saffron Walden bustles with life, much as it has since ancient days. Its compact town centre jostles with buildings from every period over the past 700 years. Their history is evident on their very walls and rooftops, showing rich ornamentation during the good years and evidence of multiple habitation in less prosperous times. Even humble dwellings feature the classic local decoration of pargeting, and tiny back alleys make tempting diversions from the main paths, lined with many independent shops. Saffron Walden’s medieval lanes offer plenty to see in a relatively small area. On a walk of just a little over a mile, following a layout dictated by the now-ruined castle’s outer ditch, every turn presents a new diversion to be explored. It may be a garden, an ancient building or one of its four mazes. To fully discover the town, it is worth setting aside a whole day.
Market square
‘Walden’ comes from the Saxon term weala-denu, or Valley of the Britons. In medieval times, it was known as Chipping Walden from the granting, by Walden Abbey, of a Tuesday market in 1295. The word chipping denotes a market town. The market square, where this walk begins and ends, is still busiest on Tuesdays and Saturdays, when traditional stalls sell fruit, vegetables, sweets and flowers alongside antiques, clothing and jewellery. Saffron Walden’s Tourist Information Office is located in the grandest building in the square. Its mock-Tudor upper floors, supported by solid, stone arches over a covered walkway, are actually Victorian. They were added to the facade of the Georgian town hall in 1879 by local businessman and Mayor of Saffron Walden, George Stacey Gibson. The Gibsons, a wealthy family who owned a brewery, bank and several public houses, were influential in the 19th century and bestowed to the town many of its most distinctive treasures. As Quakers, they were sensitive to the needs of the poor. As well as sinking a public well to provide safe drinking water for the town, they opened schools and contributed to public buildings. In 1863, the family donated a handsome drinking fountain which still takes pride of place in the market.
“And the saffron flower Clear as a flame of sacrifice breaks out” Jean Ingelow, ‘The Doom, Book II’
Richly carved in stone and bejewelled with coloured tiles, it resembles a dazzling Gothic reliquary, and there are plans to restore the fountain to working order.
Elaborate facades
From the north-west corner of the square, Market Hill gently climbs until it reaches Church Street where, on another corner, the Old Sun Inn is one of the county’s finest examples of pargeting. A tradition begun by medieval craftsmen, pargeting involved ornamenting plastered and rendered building facades using parge, a mixture of sand and lime held together with binders. What started as simple repeat patterns scratched into wet plaster with a stick or finger gradually developed into folk art executed by skilled craftsmen. No recipe was the same: everything and anything might be used by individual pargeters, from urine and horse hair, cheese and chalk, to soot or even dung. Pargeting was particularly popular in East Anglia, and by the 16th century, elaborate friezes across entire buildings depicted flowers, figures, animals, fabled creatures and local themes. The Old Sun’s overhanging gables, dating back to the 14th century, include repeat patterns, birds, fruit and even two ‘giants’. Opinion is divided as to who the pair represent: some say they are Tom Hickathrift and the Wisbech Giant, others claim they are mythological and religious figures Gog and Magog. Local folklore holds that Oliver Cromwell even used
the house as his headquarters. Crossing Church Street and heading to Museum Street affords a short leafy walk past brick, flint and timber-framed houses. One smart red-brick Georgian townhouse has a plaque dedicated to Henry Winstanley (1644-1703), inventor and builder of the first Eddystone Lighthouse, located in Cornwall. There is more about Winstanley’s life further up Museum Street, in Saffron Walden Museum, one of the oldest purpose-built museums in the country, dating back to 1835. It is perhaps unsurprising that the Gibson family were also heavily involved in its funding. It is an intriguing, rambling labyrinth of small rooms upstairs and downstairs; some filled with light, others mysteriously shadowed, leading into and through each other before opening out onto a galleried central room. Artefacts discovered during excavations of local Neolithic sites and nearby Roman settlements jostle with displays about local architecture and social history. There are also collections amassed by Victorian and Edwardian antiquarians that include everything from mammoth tusks to ancient Egyptian mummies. Particularly stunning is a 9th century Viking necklace, made from coloured glass beads and silver discs intricately engraved with Norse imagery. Nearby sit the flint remains of Walden Castle. Built between 1125 and 1141 by Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex, it was made indefensible by Henry II during a period of civil unrest just a few years later in 1158. Despite the castle’s downgrading, a grid plan of streets, including the market and the church, sat within its large, defensive bailey,
“As through the verdant maze Of sweetbriar hedges I pursue my walk” James Thomson, ‘The Seasons, Spring’
known as the Battle Ditches. Today, little remains of the once grand, three-storey keep. Visitors can walk around the weathered flint core, but much of the stone was quietly pilfered for building materials in the 18th century.
Golden spice and grain
By the 16th century, already wealthy from wool, the town was now sweetly-scented and newly rich from another crop literally worth its weight in gold. The saffron crocus, Crocus sativus, comes from the Arabic word za’faran, meaning yellow. The bright yellow stigmas of this deep purple flower have been prized as a perfume, dye, medicine and spice since ancient times and for centuries it was imported at great expense. Legend has it that a single, stolen corm was first smuggled into England by a pilgrim from the Middle East. Walden’s rich soil and temperate conditions were perfect for the growth of this lucrative crop, and the town became the capital of the English saffron industry, acquiring
a new name: the one it holds today. The left side of Museum Street provides a fine view of the apse-end of St Mary the Virgin, the largest parish church in Essex. It dates back to 1250, but was largely rebuilt in the Perpendicular style between 1470 and 1525. This was at the height of the saffron boom and it benefited from tithes collected in the spice. At the end of the street, and turning left into Castle Street, there are still unusual Wealden hall houses to be found comprising small dwellings nestled under a large, single roof. Once rather comfortable, each was lived in by a single, relatively well-off family with the interior designed around a central hall. By the 19th century, however, the area had fallen on hard times. Cheap imports and artificial dyes had led to a slump in saffron sales, and the industry had died. The halls were divided for multiple occupancy, though the roofs still give away their former lives as much larger dwellings. Opening directly onto the street, these are now tiny cottages, but alleyways lead to larger dwellings behind, with fine, secretive gardens. Pollarded poplars down one side lend a smart air to a once down-at-heel area. A small, signposted alleyway on the right leads past a miniature box-hedged border, then passes under a brick archway. High brick walls, with exquisitely-wrought iron gates watched over by stone eagles,
open into Bridge End Garden, a series of grand garden ‘rooms’. After enjoying this quiet, green oasis, taking the gently-winding Bridge Street exit from the garden will allow more of this medieval town to be explored. On the left stands the Eight Bells pub, another of Saffron Walden’s 27 Grade II* listed buildings. Dating to the 15th century, with exposed timbers and high ceilings, the pub has dramatically altered over the years, though it is one of the few buildings in town which still has its windows in their original positions. The ‘newer’ front part, along Bridge Street, is 16th century and has a first-floor jetty, a trick much used by builders of the time. This design allowed houses that had to be small due to constrictions of the street layout to expand a little upstairs. More space was created in the upper floors to jut out over the street below. After the collapse of the saffron industry, the town found wealth again in the 19th century as a brewing town, when farmers switched to growing barley. Continuing up Bridge Street, on the other side of the road, Grade I-listed Myddylton Place, one of the finest medieval buildings in a town renowned for them, has an early 19th century sack-hoist poking through its roof, revealing its former use as a malting.
Built in the late 1490s as a shop, home and warehouse it, too, has an overhanging jetty and Tudor beams, including a carved dragon post on the corner. In less-prosperous times, wealthier citizens would embellish rather than rebuild their homes. Almost directly opposite Myddylton Place on the corner of Castle Street, The Close, a handsome half-timbered Tudor townhouse, has some beautiful later additions, including a charming web-patterned Georgian oval ‘spider window’.
Elegant simplicity
Continuing along Bridge Street, a small green park leads to the imposing façade of the parish church of St Mary the Virgin. From here, the church’s length, nearly 200ft (60m), and width, 80ft (24m), seem almost cathedral-like. For a short while before the spire was installed in 1832, the tower hosted Henry Winstanley’s prototype lamp for the Eddystone lighthouse. Inside, the nave gleams from beams of early spring sunshine pouring through gigantic, mainly plain glass windows. The main impression is one of space: the interior has been left deliberately simple, encouraging the visitor to wonder at the vastness of the space, the slender columns and arches, the dark, timbered ceiling and stunning organ pipes. Plaques in the entrance record particularly fine feats of bell-ringing. In 1912, the Cambridge Surprise Major rang 5,056 changes in 3 hours, 17 minutes. Exiting through a small gate to the left, Church Street leads back down the hill. To the left, the 15th century Cross Keys Hotel can be seen at the corner of King Street, with two original windows on the ground floor revealing its earlier use as a shop and home. From here, it is possible to complete the circuit by turning up King Street. In 1630, 33 of the town’s 46 shops were sited in The Rows. Once market stalls, then the medieval equivalent of a shopping mall, these tiny alleys still house shops and cafés, well worth investigating before returning to the market square to finish the walk.
CONTACT visitsaffronwalden.gov.uk