Saffron Walden Grammar School fighter control center in the building because of its proximity to Debden airfield. Saffron Walden Grammar School Saffron Walden Free Grammar School (or Saffron Walden Grammar School) was a school in the Essex town of Saffron Walden, which for over four hundred years educated the boys of the town and surrounding villages in a manner designed to be after the model of Eton College and Winchester. It was notable for its longevity and for some of its illustrious alumni. The earliest schools in Walden dated from 1423 under the control of the neighbouring monastery. The Grammar School was founded by
St Mary the Virgin, Saffron Walden John Wastell the master mason who was building King's College Chapel in the nearby city of Cambridge. In 1769 the church was damaged by lightning. The repairs, carried out in the 1790s removed many medieval features but saved the building which was in a dilapidated state. The spire was added in 1832 to replace an older "lantern" tower to a design of Thomas Rickman and Henry Hutchinson. Thomas Cornell, progenitor of the American family bearing his name, was baptized in the church around 1592. St Mary the Virgin, Saffron Walden St Mary the Virgin is the parish church of Saffron