Walden Abbey Walden Abbey Walden Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Saffron Walden, Essex, England founded by Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex between 1136 and 1143. Originally a priory, it was elevated to the status of an abbey in 1190. Soon after its founding, Earl Geoffrey was arrested by King Stephen. When released on surrender of his castles, the earl launched a rebellion that lasted over a year. When he was killed, he had also been excommunicated and could not be buried at the priory. Walden suffered without a clear patron through the rest of Stephen's reign. Even when Geoffrey
Saffron Walden years Dame Bradbury paid the salary of the schoolmaster herself until the school was endowed in 1535. Friends' School, renamed Walden School, was a co-educational Quaker independent school with roots dating back to 1702. Its final building, in Mount Pleasant Road, opened in 1879. On 11 May 2017 it was announced that Walden School would close at the end of the 2016–17 school year. Its final day was 7 July 2017. Saffron Walden College, a teachers' training college for women, closed in 1977. Saffron Walden is served by Audley End railway station, which is located outside the town in the