SAFFRON WALDEN, Essex, a market-town, municipal borough, and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, is situated near the right bank of the river Cam, in 52' 1' N. lat., V 14' E. long., distant 22 miles N.N.W. from Chelmsford, and 42 miles N.N.E. from London by road. The population of the municipal borough, which is co-extensive with the parish of Saffron Walden, was 5911 in 18.51. The borough is governed b' 4 aldermen and 12 councillors, one of whom is mayor. The living is a. vicarage lu the archdeaconry of Colchester and diocese of Rochester. Saffron Walden Poor-Law Union contains 24 parishes and townships, with an area of 62,030 acres, and a population in 1851 of 20,716.
A castle was erected here by Geoffrey de Magnaville, one of the companions of the Conqueror. The remains consist of some parts of the walls and towers, built with flint bound together by a very bard cement. Geoffrey, the grandson of the founder of the castle, having deserted the party of Stephen for that of the empress Maud, obtained of her permission to remove the market from the neighbouring town of Newport (now a village) to Walden. Having been however seized by Stephen, he could only obtain his freedom by the delivery of his castles, Walden being one of them, to the king. The same nobleman founded here in 1136 a Benedictine priory, which was some years later raised to the rank of an abbey. The site was granted to Sir Thomas Audley, lord chancellor, and the title of Lord Audley of Walden was conferred upon him.
The town is irregularly laid out, and some of the houses are of con siderable antiquity. The streets are lighted with gas and paved. The
church, which is of the reign of Henry VII., is a large and very elegant specimen of the late perpendicular style. It has a nave and aisles, large south porch, and chancel and aisles. The Interior of the church is very elegant. There are two places of worship for Particular Baptista, one for General Baptista, and one each for Independents, Quakers, and Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists. The Free Grammar school, founded in 1525, has an income from endowment of 60/. a-year, and had 25 scholars in 1854. There are also National, British, and Infant schools, and a savings bank. The town-hall, a neat building, stands in the market-place. In the town are a new post-office, a corn exchange in the Italian style, a museum,• literary institution, a cattle market, and a handsome range of almshouses. The chief trade is in barley and malt ; there are an lron-fouudry and a brewery. The market is on Saturday. Three annual fairs are held : one, chiefly for horses, on the Saturday before Mid-Lent Sunday; one at Andley End, on August 3rd ; and another at Saffron Walden, on November 1st. A county court is held.
Andley House, or, as it is usually termed, Audley End, the seat of Lord Braybrooke, is a noble mansion, erected on the site and grounds of the ancient monastery by the Earl of Suffolk, who in the time of James I. had inherited the estate of the Lord Chancellor Audley. The grounds are beautiful, and the Cam, which flows through them, ex pands so as to form a considerable sheet of water in front of the house.