Saffron Walden Cestreforda to the north. After the Norman invasion of 1066, a stone church was built. Walden Castle, dating from about 1140, may have been built on pre-existing fortifications. A priory, Walden Abbey, was founded under the patronage of Geoffrey de Mandeville, first Earl of Essex about 1136, on the site of what is now Audley End village. The abbey was separated from Walden by Holywell Field. After the dissolution of the monasteries, Sir Thomas Audley converted its cloisters into a dwelling. Later this became the site of Audley End House. The market was moved from nearby Newport to Saffron Walden
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