Little Walden Little Walden Little Walden is a small settlement in the Uttlesford district, in the English county of Essex. It lies about north of the market town of Saffron Walden and is from Cambridge. The church, St.John's The Crown Inn public house is situated on a bend in the B1052 road which runs through the village. Chesterford Research Park is to the north west. In Little Walden parish are the remains of a banked enclosure which may date from the Iron Age. A World War II airfield to the north, RAF Little Walden, closed in 1958. A bus service between Linton
Saffron Walden market place. This was demolished in 1847 to make way for a corn exchange. In the 16th–17th centuries the saffron crocus ("Crocus sativus") was widely grown, thanks to the town's favourable soil and climate. The flower was valuable, as the extract from the stigmas was used in medicines, as a condiment, in perfume, as an aphrodisiac, and as an expensive yellow dye. The industry gave Walden its name. The town and surrounding area, like much of East Anglia, was strongly Puritan during the 17th century. The population was influenced by the missionary John Eliot. By 1640, Samuel Bass's family and