BOROUGH OF SAFFRON WALDEN. 1863
SAFFRON WALDEN is a municipal borough and handsome market town, delightfully situated in the heart of Uttlesford Hundred, on a bold eminence, rising from the Slade brook, on the eastern side of Lord Braybrooke’s extensive and beautiful park of Audley-End, about 2 miles N.E. of Audley End Station, on the Eastern Counties and Norfolk Railway, 42 miles N. by E. of London, 12 miles N. by E. of Bishop’s Stortford, and 27 miles N.N.W. of Chelmsford. It has separate quarter and petty sessions, and gives name to a large Union and Police Division, as already noticed; and also to a large Polling District in the Northern Parliamentary Division of Essex ; and to a Rural Deanery in the Diocese of Rochester and Archdeaconry of Colchester. Its Parish contains 7380 acres of land, and had only 3181 inhabitants in 1801; but in 1831 they had increased to 4762, and in 1851 to 5911 souls, including 328 in the Union Workhouse, and 125 persons attending the fair. The parish includes the handsome seat and pleasant hamlet of AUDLEY END, in the vale of the Cam, or Granta, one mile W.; the hamlet of SEWER’S-END, 2 miles E.; and the hamlets of NORTH END and LITTLE WALDEN, from 1 to 3 miles N. of the town. It comprises about 30 farms, some of which have large and pleasantly situated houses, bearing different names. The town has one of the handsomest churches in the county, and several good streets, one of which is the spacious Market place, where a large and handsome CORN EXCHANGE was built in 1848 by a company of shareholders, at the cost of £2500, in the Italian style.
This is one of the largest corn markets in Essex, and near it is another handsome building, in which are the Post Office, Savings’ Bank, and Literary Institution. Anew Cattle Market, entered by a handsome archway, was provided in 1831, at the cost of about £1200. In the market-place is a commodious and handsome Town Hall, and the town is now well paved, and lighted with gas.
It has been much improved during the present century, by the demolition of many of the ancient houses and other buildings, and the erection of new ones ; and by the widening of some of the thoroughfares. One of the first of these improvements was the removal of an old building, which extended 27 feet into the road, opposite the White Horse Inn, and contracted that entrance to the Market-place from 45 to 18 feet. In 1818, the old Market Cross was removed. About 26 years ago, a bridge was built over the Slade brook, and a good road made to it for carriages and foot passengers. About 28 years ago, a public well, bored to the depth of 1004 feet, was made by the late Jabez Gibson, Esq., a public-spirited member of the Society of Friends, and agreat benefactor to the town. This deep artesian well is constantly full of excellent water, and now affords an abundant supply to the New Water Works, constructed in 1862 by a company of shareholders. The Gas Works were constructed in 1836, at the cost of £4500, raised in £20 shares. The carriage roads and footpaths leading to the town have also been greatly improved, and the latter afford delightful promenades, especially towards Audley-End and Littlebury, where the scenery is richly diversified and well wooded. The market, held every Saturday, is numerously attended, and well supplied with corn, cattle, and all kinds of provisions; and here are three annual fairs, on the Saturday before Mid-lent Sunday: and on Nov. 1st and 2d, for cattle, horses, &c.; and onAugust 3rd, for sheep, lambs, &c. The latter, commonly called Audley End Fair, is held on the Common, and is a great pleasure as well as stock fair.
The singular situation of the town on the crown and sides of a narrow tongue of land, which shoots out, like a promontory, into a valley, in the form of a horse-shoe, enclosed by distant hills, led Dr. Stukely to conjecture that it occupies the site of a Roman station. The same antiquary supposes a maze, cut in the chalk onthe common, to have been a British circus, or place of exercise for the soldiery. This labyrinth for the amusement of youth was re-cut and turfed with grass many years since, but it is nowmuch defaced. The name Walden is from the Saxon words ” weald” and “den,” signifying woody hill, and the term Saffron is said to have been applied to the town from the great quantities of that plant formerly cultivated in its vicinity. Of the early history of Walden very little is known prior to the Norman Conquest, when it was one of the 118 lordships given to Geoffrey de Mandeville, orMag- naville, who fixed his residence here and built the Castle, which became the head of the great barony and honor of Mandeville. His grandson of the same name was created Earl of Essex, and built another castle at Pleshey. He also enlarged and strengthened Walden Castle. He espoused the cause of the Empress Maud against King Stephen, and she granted him certain lands at New- port, and a license to remove the market from that place to Walden, with all customs, tolls, &c. , belonging to it. She also gave him other privileges and lands, and finally presented to him and his heirs the office of chief justice ofEssex, and all pleas and forfeitures appertaining to the crown. But his defection was not long concealed from King Stephen, by whose order he was arrested at St. Alban’s, in 1143, and to regain his liberty he was obliged to surrender to the King the Tower of London, and his castles at Walden and Pleshey. He was shot in the following year, where we have already given a brief notice of the succeeding Earls of Essex. Humphrey de Bohun, the 12th Earl of Essex, had license in 1347, to embattle his manor house at Walden. On the partition of the barony in 1421, the manor of Walden, with its park, fell to the share of the King. In 1126, Geoffrey, the first Earl, founded a Priory on the west side of the town, and in 1190, it was converted into an ABBEY of the Benedictine order. This abbey was richly endowed with lands and churches, of which Waldenwas one ; and it continued to flourish till the suppression in the reign of Henry VIII. , when its revenues were valued at £406. 15s. 11d. per annum. It was granted in 1538, to Sir Thos Audley, Kt. , who was then Lord Chancellor of England, and was created in the same year Baron Audley, of Walden; but on his death, without male issue, in 1544, that title became extinct. His daughter and sole heiress married Thomas Howard, fourth Duke of Norfolk, who was beheaded in 1572 ; but his younger son, Thomas, was summoned to Parliament, in 1579, as Baron Howard de Walden, and was created Earl of Suffolk, in 1603. He built, on the site of the Abbey, the extensive and magnificent mansion, which, in honour of his maternal grandfather, he called Audley End. Hedied in 1626, and was succeeded by his son, Theophilus, whodied in 1640, and was succeeded by his son, James. On the death of the latter, in 1706, the earldom passed to his brother, but the barony fell into abeyance between his two daughters, viz.: Essex, wife of Edward, Lord Griffin, and Elizabeth, wife of Sir Thomas Felton. The abeyance was terminated in 1784, in favour of John Griffin Whitwell, sole heir of the second Baron Griffin, who was created Baron Braybrooke, of Braybrooke, in Northamptonshire, in 1788. He died without issue in 1799, when the title of Baron Howard de Walden passed to the fourth Earl of Bristol. The title of BARON BRAYBROOKE passed to the nearest relative of the first baron, Richard Aldworth Neville, who died in 1825, and was succeeded by the late baron, who died in 1858, and was succeeded by his eldest son, the Rt. Hon. Richard Cornwallis Neville, the present LORD BRAYBROOKE, who was born in 1820, and resides at Audley End and Heydon House. His Lordship is lord of the manors of Chipping Walden and Brook Walden, and owner of agreat part of the parish ; and the rest belongs to variousfree and copyholders, the largest of whomare the Gibson,Gayton, Clayden, Sanders, and other families.
AUDLEY END, the spacious and elegant seat of Lord Braybrooke, was built, as already noticed, by Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk. It was commenced in 1603, and finished in 1616, and is situated in an extensive and finely wooded park about one mile W. of Saffron Walden. Whatnow remains, though large and magnificent, is only a small portion of the original mansion, which is said to have been equal in extent and splendour to the Palace of Hampton Court. For the erection of this immense pile the Earl sold an estate worth £10,000 a year. A model of the intended building was procured from Italy at the cost of £500, and the expense of erecting it is said to have amounted to £190,000. When complete the mansion consisted of various ranges of buildings, which surrounded two quadrangular courts. That to the west was very spacious, and was approached through a grand entrance gateway between four round towers.
On the north and south sides were corridors supported by columns of alabaster, and on the east side was an entrance into the Great Hall. Passing through this was a smaller square court, three sides of which still remain, and constitute the present mansion. In its perfect state the pile appeared like a large college, with numerous turrets, cupolas, and pinnacles. The rooms were large, inconvenient, and many of them unpleasant, and to keep the whole in good repair required a large fortune ; a great part was consequently taken down, and the materials sold, at various periods. The marble pillars of the chapel were sold to Lord Onslow, and William III. bought some pieces of tapestry for £4500, and they are now preserved at Windsor Castle. The western or grand entrance front of the present mansion is ornamented with two uniform projecting porches, each having 17 marble columns at the angles, of various colours. The balustrade of these and of the house is perforated and variously ornamented, and the summit is adorned with eight turrets and several clustered chimneys. All the windows are large and square-headed, with numerous stone mullions, and many of them project from the rooms. The numerous apartments are elegantly furnished and decorated, and the entrance hall still preserves part of its ancient character. The saloon contains portraits of many of the former owners and other distinguished persons, let into pannels; and its frieze, cornice, and pilasters are richly carved and gilt. In the drawing-room are some good pictures of the Italian and Flemish schools. The chapel, at the north-west end of the mansion, was fitted up about 1771, and its windows are enriched with stained glass, executed by Pecket, of York. The grounds around the house are pleasantly diversified with hill and dale ; the former richly adorned with wood, and the latter enlivened with the clear waters of the river Granta, or Cam, and one of its tributaries, which unite in the park, which averages nearly two miles in length and breadth, and has on its eastern side the town of Saffron Walden, and on its southern verge the small village of Audley End, where there is a railway station, and two ancient buildings, supposed to have belonged to the Abbey. On the top of Ring Hill, to the west of the mansion, is a circular Temple, on the site of an ancient tower. The whole summit of this hill is enclosed with an entrenchment, nearly circular, and including an area of about 15 acres. Salmon supposes it to have been the Canonium of the Itinerary, but this conjecture is not supported by other antiquaries, though a Roman road certainly passed near it.
Of Saffron Walden Castle only a part of the keep, now used as a barn and stable, and some of the foundation walls, are now standing. That it was a place of great strength is evident, and that its extent was considerable may be inferred from the remains of old walls found by the workmen when digging the foundations of modern houses. In the vicinity are the remains of an ancient oblong camp, called the Pell or Repel ditches. The south bank is about 700 feet long, 20 high, 50 broad at the base, and 6 or 8 broad at the top. Both the banks and ditches are extremely bold, and in a field near them have been found great quantities of human bones. In different parts of the parish have been found the tusks and teeth of elephants , some imbedded in gravel, some in a stratum of black mould below the gravel, and some in chalk. Marine shells have also been found in a bed of clay.
A grand tournament was held here in 1252, ” in which Roger de Leiburne encountered with Ernauld de Montenei, a valiant knight, and unhappily run his lance into his throat under is helmet, it wanting a collar, where upon Montenei fell from his horse and died instantly. ” Walden was made a corporate town by Edward VI. in 1549, at the intercession of John Smith, brother of the celebrated Sir Thomas Smith. Its government was then vested in twenty persons, out of whom a treasurer and two chamberlains were annually chosen. The CORPORATION was remodelled by a charter of William and Mary, and consisted of a mayor, recorder, and twelve aldermen, with a town clerk and other officers ; but under the Municipal Reform Act of 1835 it now consists of a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve councillors , with recorder, town clerk, coroner, and other officers ; and a commission of the peace. The Corporation levy about £600 ayear in borough rates, and derive about £160 per annum from market tolls and property. The Borough includes the whole parish, and never sent members to parliament. Its Quarter and Petty Sessions are held at the Town Hall, where the county magistrates hold petty sessions once a fortnight for Walden Police Division. The Saffron Walden, or 17th Essex Rifle Volunteers, are under the command of Captain Byng.
TOWN COUNCIL AND PUBLIC OFFICERS, (1862.) add MAYOR, John Green Emson, Esq. EX- MAYOR, J. Clarke, Esq.
BOROUGH JUSTICES, The Mayor and Ex-Mayor, and T. Smith and N. Catlin, Esqrs.
ALDERMEN, T. Smith, N. Catlin, and H. Burrows, Esqrs.
COUNCILLORS, Messrs. G. S. Gibson, J. G. Emson, Thomas Spurgin, Joshua Clarke, John S. Robson, Charles Porter, James Starling, A. N. Jones, C. M. Wade, B. T. Thurgood, and T. P. Canning.
RECORDER, Frederick Walford, Esq.
Town Clerk, Clerk of Peace, and Coroner, William B. Freeland,Esq.
Clerk to Borough Justices, William Thurgood, Esq.
Inspector of Police and Weights and Measures, Timothy Rowan.
Sergeants at Mace, T. Patient and C. Day.
Crier and Clerk of Market, Samuel Francis.
CLERK TO COUNTY MAGISTRATES, Joseph Thomas Collin, Esq.
SAFFRON-WALDEN COUNTY COURT DISTRICT Comprises the borough, and the parishes of Arkesden, Ashdon, Great and Little Chesterford, Chrishall, Clavering, Debden, Elmdon, Hadstock, Hempstead, Langley, Littlebury, Newport, Quendon, Radwinter, Rickling, Great and Little Sampford, Strethall, Wendens Ambo, Wenden Lofts, Wicken-Bonhunt, Widdington, and Wimbish, in Essex ; and Great and Little Abington, Bartlow, Duxford, Hildersham, Hinxton, Ickleton, Linton, and Pampisford, in Cambridgeshire. The court is held monthly at the Town Hall. John Collyer, Esq. , is the judge ; Joseph Thos. Collin, Esq. , registrar ; and Mr. M. A. Ward, high bailiff.
The CHURCH (Holy Trinity) stands on the crown of the hill, in the highest part of the town, and is a spacious and elegant fabric, in the late perpendicular style, chiefly of the age of Henry VII. and VIII. In the reign of the latter, the east end and part of the south aisle of the chancel were built by Lord Chancellor Audley, who is interred in the vault beneath, together with several of the Earls and Countesses of Suffolk. Walpole calls it one of the lightest and most beautiful parish churches in England. It has a spacious nave, chancel, and side aisles ; and at the west end is a well-proportioned tower, upon which a new belfry and lofty crocketted spire were erected in 1831, at the cost of more than £3000: During the last two years it has been undergoing a thorough restoration; but the nave is now supplied with chairs till funds are raised for completing the new open benches. The windows are ornamented with mullions and tracery, and between several of them are niches, probably intended for the statues of saints. The roofs are of timber, elegantly painted; and the spandrels between the arches, which support the centre, are well carved in stone. The whole fabric was repaired and beautified at the cost of nearly £8000, in the years 1791,2, & 3. The floor of the ancient church is said to have been almost covered with brasses, all of which are gone, except one, representing a priest. In the south chancel is the tomb of Lord Chancellor Audley; and in the north chancel is an altar tomb in memory of John Leche, who was vicar, and refounded here the Guild of the Holy Trinity in the early part of the reign of Henry VIII. The entire length of the edifice, including the porch at the east end, is 200, and its breadth 84 feet. The height of the tower is 85 feet, andthat of the spire 108, making a total of 193 feet. The tower has a fine peal of eight bells. Lord Braybrooke is impropriator of the great tithes, and also patron of the vicarage, valued in K.B. at £33. 6s. 8d., and in 1831 at £237, and now in the incumbency of the Rev. Ralph Clutton, B.D., who has a large and substantial residence, and 5A. 16P. of glebe. The tithes were commuted in 1840, the vicarial for £300, and the rectorial for £61.10s. 1d. per annum. The latter is charged on the land which does not belong to the impropriator. A room was built at Sewer’s End in 1847, as a chapel-of-ease for that eastern part of the parish.
The GENERAL CEMETERY, on the east side of the town, was opened January 1st, 1857, and comprises 5A. 3R. 25P. of land, purchased by the Burial Board as a place of sepulture for the borough. It is tastefully laid out, and has a neat entrance lodge and two chapels. One of the latter, and about two-thirds of the ground, are consecrated. This cemetery has cost about £4500. Mr. S. J. King is the registrar, and also clerk to the Burial Board.
DISSENTERS are numerous here, and have seven places ofworship in the town, of which that belonging to the Society of Friends is the oldest; its congregation having a regular register of births from 1639, though the present Meeting House was not opened till 1676. Its burial ground is still used. The Independent Chapel, in Abbey lane, had its origin in 1665, when the Rev. Jonathan Paine, an ejected minister from Bishop Stortford, commenced preaching here to a congregation of nonconformists. Their first chapel was built in 1692, and the present chapel was erected on its site in 1811, at the cost of about £3000. It has about 900 sittings, and is now under the ministry of the Rev. J.R.Goulty. The General Baptists congregation here since 1711, and their present chapel was built in 1789, and is now under the ministry of the Rev. John Marten. The Baptist Chapel in High street was built in 1774, by a congregation which separated from the Independents. It will seat about 1000 hearers, and the Rev. W. A. Gillson is its minister.
Here is a Particular Baptist Chapel, built in 1822, and also two small chapels belonging to the Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists, the former opened in 1824. At Little Walden is a small Independent Chapel, erected in 1851. Bible, Missionary, and other Societies, for the propagation of religious knowledge, are supported by the various denominations, and here are also several Day and Sunday Schools, supported partly by subscription; an endowed Grammar School, a handsome range of Almshouses, and various Charities for the poor.
Saffron Walden Literary and Scientific Institution was established about 30 years ago, and has a good library and reading room, and occasional lectures. It has about 150 members, and near it is a large and valuable MUSEUM, which was commenced in 1832, and contains fine specimens of zoology, geology, Roman and other antiquities, ancient coins, &c. Here is a commodious LECTURE HALL, which was opened April 2nd, 1862. Here is a numerous Temperance Society ; a Working Men’s Institute, and an Horticultural Society.
The AGRICULTURAL HALL, lately erected by Lord Braybrooke, for public meetings, &c. , is a handsome room, 67 feet long, 32 broad, and 24 high. The Church of England Young Men’s Society meets at the Old Grammar School; and the Choral and Philharmonic classes, at the Infant School.
The FREE GRAMMAR SCHOOL, in Castle street, was endowed in 1525, by “Dame Johane Bradbury, ” and her brother, the Rev. John Leche, who vested it in trust with the treasurer and chamberlains of the Guild of the Holy Trinity, that the priest of that guild should be appointed schoolmaster. The endowment consists of a yearly rent-charge of £12, out of the manor of Willingale Spain ; besides which, the school has 5A 2R 18P of land, given partly by Sir William Dawson, a late master, in the 18th of Henry VIII. , but mostly by Peter Manwood, in the 36th of Elizabeth.
This land adjoins the school-house, and they are worth together about £33a-year. The school-house was rebuilt in 1125, at the cost of £215. 7s. On the dissolution of Trinity Guild, the school fell into the hands of the Crown, but it was re-established by a charter of the 2nd of Edward VI. , which vests it in trust with the Corporation, who appoint the master, with the approval of the master of Queen’s College, Cambridge. The school was suspended from 1802 till 1815, when it was opened as a National School; but the small endowment having been improved by rebuilding the house in 1825, and purchasing the tithes of the school land in 1815, a master to teach Latin and Greek was appointed about 20 years ago. When the master does not enjoy any church preferment, he is entitled to about £7 a-year from Adams’s Charity.
The CHARITY SCHOOL, for educating and clothing 12 poor boys and 12 poor girls, was established in 1715 by subscription. Among the principal donations and bequests to this useful charity, we find £500 left by Thomas Penning, in 1717 ; a yearly rent-charge of £5, out of Lumpitts and Limekiln Field ; £100 left by Mrs. Dent, in 1727 ; and £200 by Lady Elizabeth Osborn, in 1752. Besides the annuity of £5, there now belongs to the Charity School a farm of 20A. 3R. , at Steeple Bumpstead, purchased with Thomas Penning’s legacy, and now let for £40 ; and an estate at Cutler’s Green, in Thaxted parish, purchased with the £200 left by Lady Osborn, and now let for £23 a-year. These estates were vested with new trustees in 1818; and the 24 children clothed and educated by the charity, are instructed by the master and mistress of the National School, erected in 1845, in Castle street, where about 90 boys and 70 girls are educated.
The BOYS’ BRITISH SCHOOL is a large building, erected in 1838, by W. G. Gibson, Esq. , and family, and is now attended by 120 boys. The Girls’ British School is in connexion with the oldSchool of Industry. King Edward the Sixth’s Almhouses form a handsome range of buildings in Abbey lane, erected by the Trustees in lieu of the old almshouses, and on a better site and much larger scale, in 1822, 3, and 4, at the cost of about £5000, for the residence of 30 almspeople; but four additional houses were added in 1840, at the expense of the Gibson family; so that they comprise 34 dwellings, two stories high. They form the comfortable asylum of 34 aged poor parishioners, (men and women), who have paid scot and lot in the parish. Each has a weekly stipend of 6s. 6d. , andthe whole are provided with medical attendance. Wives or husbands of pensioners area llowed to reside in the almshouses, and if they survive their partners, they are usually chosen to fill the vacancies. This valuable charity was originally instituted in 1400, when Roger Waldene, Archbishop of Canterbury, gave a parcel of ground, six perches long and four broad, to the Guild of the Holy Trinity, as the site of an almshouse, Chamthis erected thereon by that fraternity, for 13 poor men and women. At this time the town was incorporated by the name of the Treasurer and Chamberlains of the Guild of the Holy Trinity ; but this guild was dissolved when all chantries, guilds, &c. , were abolished in 1546. The Corporation was revived under the name of Treasurer, Chamberlain, and Commonalty ofthe town of Walden; and in 1550, they obtained letters patent of Edward VI., for the re-establishment of the Almshouse. By their charter to the town, William and Mary granted and confirmed to the mayor and al- dermen, and their successors, that the said almshouse should for ever be called ” King Edward the Sixth’s Almshouse,” and be under their government and patronage ; and that they should yearly elect a warden and co-brother, to manage the affairs of the almshouse. The number of almspeople was increased to 30 many years ago. In 1782, a part of what is supposed to have bean the ancient almshouse was rebuilt ; and in 1828, the rest was found to be in so ruinous a state that it was resolved that it should be pulled down, and that an entire new range of almshouses should be built upon a better site, as noticed above. To that part of the old almshouse rebuilt in 1782, four dwellings were added about 20 years ago by the Gibson family ; and the whole is now occupied rent-free by 20 respectable poor people, elected by the trustees, but they have no stipends from the charity funds. The property belonging to the charity has been acquired at various periods from numerous benefactions, the largest of which were given by the family of Myddylton or Middleton, in the reigns Henry VIII. and Elizabeth. It now consists of ten small rent-charges : 281A. OR. 19p. of land, at Wimbish, and various tenements, and 130A. 1R. 11p. of land in this parish producing altogether a yearly revenue of about £1000.
VARIOUS CHARITIES.- In 1481, Geoffrey Symond left 19A. 26P. of land, called Dreys, for repairing the highways. In 1612, William Turner left a yearly rent- charge of £5, out of Broad Green Farm, Chrishall, for the poor of Saffron Walden. It is distributed in weekly doles of bread to 6 poor persons. In 1623, Thomas Turner directed his executors to purchase an estate ofthe yearly value of £20, for charitable uses in Walden. The estate purchased consists of 37A. 32P. of land at Hinton, now let for about £42 per annum, which is applied as follows : About £20 in weekly doles of bread to the poor parishioners ; £2 for a sermon on the anniversary of the testator’s burial ; £2. 13s. 4d. to the ringers ; 10s. to the clerk ; £2. 15s. in Christmas beef for the almspeople ; and the remainder in clothing for the poor. In the 7th of Charles I., William Leader directed his executors to purchase for the poor of Walden land of the yearly value of £4, for distribution in bread, on the first Friday in Lent and the Friday after Trinity Sunday, by the churchwardens and overseers. The estate belonging to this charity is now let for about £28 per annum. In 1654, Anthony Penniston left £200 to purchase £10 a year for a weekly distribution of 2s. in bread and 2s. in money among six poor people, at the church. The land purchased with this legacy consists of 11A. 3R. 12P. at Sewer’s End, let for about £20. In 1623, Thomas Adam gave 27A. 2R. of land in the manor of Tollesbury Hall, in trust to apply the yearly proceeds as follows :-
One-fourth in clothing for the poor, two-fourths in apprenticing poor children, and the other fourth to be paid to the master of the Grammar School, if he did not serve any spiritual cure, but if he did, the said fourth part to be given in clothing. This land is now let for about £30 a year. In 1682, Matthew Bloomfield granted 19A. of freehold, and 16.5 A. of copyhold land, in the parish of Hadstock, in trust to apply the rents yearly in clothing and apprenticing poor children to trades or manual occupations
Two legacies left for the poor, viz.: £100 by the Earl of Suffolk, in 1688, and £138. 15s. , by Edmund Turner, in 1690, were laid out in the purchase of a house and 154. of land at Ashdon, now let for about £18 a year, which is all applied by the trustees in apprenticing poor boys. In 1653, Eliz. Erswell bequeathed for the poor (in trust with the Corporation,) all her lands and tenements in Walden. This charity now yields about £100 a year, arising from two houses, 144. 3R. 13p. of land, and £4 per annum in two rent-charges. The clear income is distributed among the poor in sums of 20s. to each person. In 1700, Edmund Turner left £200 to be laid out in lands, in trust to distribute two-thirds of the rents among the poor of Audley End, and one-third among the poor of Walden. There now belongs to this charity a house and 64A. of land in Walden, let for about £35 a year, and a yearly rent-charge of £4, paid by Lord Braybrooke. In 1705, Jane and Joseph Sparrow granted to the Corporation,
in trust for the poor, a house, &c. , in Church street, now let for about £17 a year. The poor of Castle street have a yearly rent-charge of 5s. , left by Matthew Rand. The yearly sum of £11. 9s. 10d. , being a portion of the dividends arising from the funded property belonging to the Baptist Chapel, is appropriated to the poor of the congregation. The poor of Saffron- Walden have £5. 4s. , and those of Audley-End £1. 6s. yearly from Martin’s Charity. (See Chrishall.) For apprenticing poor children, this parish has a share of Barlee’s Charity. (See Clavering.) In 1776, Viscountess Falkland gave £600 to the minister and churchwardens, in trust to invest the same, and distribute the yearly proceeds among 20 poor men and 19 poor women, belonging to the parish. This legacy was laid out in the purchase of £731. 14s. three per cent. Annuities. In 1796, Lord Howard de Walden left £2000 three per cent. Consols, in trust with the successive occupiers of his mansion at Audley-End, and the vicars for the time being of Saffron Walden and Littlebury, to apply the dividends yearly in clothing 12 poor men and 12 poor women of this parish, and five poor men and five women of Littlebury. The objects are selected by Lord Braybrooke.