St Mary the Virgin, Saffron Walden St Mary the Virgin, Saffron Walden St Mary the Virgin is the parish church of Saffron Walden, Essex. It is the largest non-cathedral church in Essex with an overall length of and the spire, high, which is the tallest in Essex. It was designated as a Grade I listed building in 1951. A Norman church was recorded in 1130, which in turn had replaced an earlier wooden structure. The building as it currently stands dates predominantly from a rebuilding between 1250 and 1258, with a further rebuilding in the Perpendicular style begun in about 1450, the latter stages supervised by
Saffron Walden (horse) Walden's dam Or Vision was a high-class racemare who won the Prix Imprudence as a three-year-old in 1986, before being retired to become a very successful broodmare, producing several other good winners including Dolphin Street (Prix de la Foret) and Insight (E P Taylor Stakes). She was a full-sister to Brigid, the dam Listen and Seqoyah and the grand-dam of Henrythenavigator. Instead of beginning his track career in a maiden race, Saffron Walden made his debut in the Group Three Killavullan Stakes over seven furlongs at Leopardstown Racecourse in October. He started the 2/1 favourite but despite staying on well