Walden Castle a large force surprised him while he was out hunting, and threatened to hang him in chains over the castle gate. Henry II ordered the castle, with the keep probably still unfinished, to be slighted in 1157. Saffron Walden's streets are shaped by the outline of the castle bailey. Only the ruined core of the castle remains, with most of the stones stolen over the intervening centuries; the castle is a scheduled monument and a Grade I listed building. Walden Castle Walden Castle was a medieval castle in Essex, England, built during the Anarchy of the 12th century. Only the
Saffron Walden of housing estates in the 1970s and 1980s. Saffron Walden's unofficial coat of arms showed the saffron crocus within the walls of the castle in the form of an heraldic pun – as in, "Saffron walled-in". In 1961, a formal coat of arms was granted by the College of Arms and this was adapted in 1974 into its current form. The town has three ceremonial maces. The large mace was given to Saffron Walden by James II in 1685 and provides an early recording of the unofficial coat of arms. Made of silver gilt, it is approximately long. Two smaller