Walden

Saffron Walden is a market town in the rolling countryside of northwestern Essex. It grew around a castle and a nearby abbey, and its name recalls the valuable saffron crocus once cultivated in the district. The dried stigmas were prized as a dye, flavouring and medicine, bringing prosperity to the town and its growers.

After the dissolution of Walden Abbey, its lands passed to Sir Thomas Audley, who converted the monastic buildings into a house. His descendants built the grand mansion of Audley End on the site in the early years of the seventeenth century. Its scale proclaimed the wealth and ambition of the Howard family, while the market town nearby retained the name given it by the saffron trade.