Walden Castle Walden Castle Walden Castle was a medieval castle in Essex, England, built during the Anarchy of the 12th century. Only the ruined core of the structure remains today. Walden Castle was built in the town of Saffron Walden in Essex at the start of the civil war known as the Anarchy by Geoffrey de Mandeville, with much of the work occurring between 1141 and 1143. It was one of several castles built by de Mandeville to reinforce his power across the region. The castle stood on a natural high point within the town () and had a square Norman keep
Walden Pond on both sides of the railroad cut nearest the pond; and, moreover, there are most stones where the shore is most abrupt; so that, unfortunately, it is no longer a mystery to me. I detect the paver. If the name was not derived from that of some English locality -- Saffron Walden, for instance -- one might suppose that it was called originally "Walled-in" Pond. Also in "The Ponds," Thoreau describes incorporeal experiences around the water, both experiences related to him by others and his own. Thoreau, who was well read and a transcendentalist, and therefore presumably intimately familiar with