Saffron Meanwhile, cultivation continued in southern France, Italy, and Spain. The Essex town of Saffron Walden, named for its new specialty crop, emerged as a prime saffron growing and trading centre in the 16th and 17th centuries but cultivation there was abandoned; saffron was re-introduced around 2013 as well as other parts of the UK (Cheshire). Europeans introduced saffron to the Americas when immigrant members of the Schwenkfelder Church left Europe with a trunk containing its corms. Church members had grown it widely in Europe. By 1730, the Pennsylvania Dutch cultivated saffron throughout eastern Pennsylvania. Spanish colonies in the Caribbean bought
Saffron Walden their religion. Saffron Walden County High School is a large co-educational academy with over 2000 pupils. Located to the west of the town centre, it was rated outstanding in its most recent Ofsted report in 2012. The school replaced Saffron Walden Grammar School, which was established in 1521 by the town's Holy Trinity Guild and Dame Joan Bradbury, a local benefactor. Dame Bradbury also founded Dame Bradbury's School on Ashdon Road. There has been a school on this site since 1317 but it was in 1521 that Dame Bradbury made this school available for local people. For the first four