Walden School (Saffron Walden) announced that Walden School would close at the end of the 2016-17 school year. Walden School (Saffron Walden) Walden School (previously known as Friends' School) was a Quaker independent school located in Saffron Walden, Essex, situated approximately 12 miles south of the city of Cambridge, England. The school was co-educational and accommodated children between the ages of three and 18 (boarders and day pupils). The school closed at the end of the 2017 summer term. Friends' School, Saffron Walden was founded as part of the Quakers' Clerkenwell workhouse in London in 1703, 50 years after George Fox. From September 2016
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