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historical society

Featured image for “Remembrance Day Parade and Related Posts”
November 10, 2024 • posted in News

Remembrance Day Parade and Related Posts

Sunday 10th November saw the annual Remembrance Day Parade, which took place at the top of the High Street by the War Memorial. The Society has a number of posts and articles relating to both World War I and World War II.
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Featured image for “American air bases during World War Two in East Anglia- their Impact”
November 8, 2024 • posted in Articles

American air bases during World War Two in East Anglia- their Impact

In 1939 there were only 1,700,000 people living in East Anglia. The main industry continued to be centred around agriculture, but the East Anglian economy was in a poor state in the pre-war period.
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Featured image for “Thomas Netter of Walden: Diplomat, Carmelite and Theologian (c.1372–1430)”
November 8, 2024 • posted in Recommended Reading

Thomas Netter of Walden: Diplomat, Carmelite and Theologian (c.1372–1430)

Thomas Netter was born in Saffron Walden and spent his early years in the town before entering the church, and becoming a diplomat and confessor for King Henry V, who reportedly died in Netter’s arms.
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Featured image for “Recent Archaeology in Saffron Walden Town Centre”
November 8, 2024 • posted in Articles

Recent Archaeology in Saffron Walden Town Centre

Saffron Walden has one of the best preserved historic centres in Essex.
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Featured image for “The Railway through Audley End: Lord Braybrooke, W G Gibson and the Line to Cambridge, by Martin Rose”
November 6, 2024 • posted in SWHS Publications

The Railway through Audley End: Lord Braybrooke, W G Gibson and the Line to Cambridge, by Martin Rose

SWHS Publications no 7 (2024), design by Nick Crawley. ISBN 978-1873669-23-5, 64 pages, price £6.00 Why do all fast trains stop at Audley End? Why does the line disappear into the Chalk through two tunnels whose only function is to hide it from the windows of Audley End? Whose is the showy heraldry on the Littlebury tunnel portal? And why
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Featured image for “Wimbish and Thunderley – the development of settlement in a boulder-clay landscape”
November 4, 2024 • posted in Articles

Wimbish and Thunderley – the development of settlement in a boulder-clay landscape

Thunderley and Wimbish since the Conquest, landholding and agricultural change in NW Essex
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Featured image for “Sir William Waad, Lieutenant of the Tower, and the Gunpowder Plot”
November 2, 2024 • posted in Recommended Reading

Sir William Waad, Lieutenant of the Tower, and the Gunpowder Plot

When Sir William Waad became Lieutenant of the Tower of London in August 1605, only three months before the Gunpowder Plot, it was the culmination of a lifetime of service to the Crown
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Featured image for “Lost Parish of Thunderley”
November 2, 2024 • posted in Articles

Lost Parish of Thunderley

Thunderley was a parish in NW Essex till the 15th century when it was judged unable to support a parson and merged with neighbouring Wimbish.
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Featured image for “The Flying Serpent: or Strange News Out of Essex”
November 2, 2024 • posted in Recommended Reading

The Flying Serpent: or Strange News Out of Essex

In January 1669 the writer and historian William Winstanley published a pamphlet entitled The Flying Serpent or Strange News out of Essex. It describes in graphic detail the appearance of a fearsome dragon or winged serpent at Henham, near Saffron Walden
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Featured image for “Compton Census in NW Essex”
November 2, 2024 • posted in Articles

Compton Census in NW Essex

In January 1675/6 Gilbert Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury, directed that a census be made of the number of inhabitants papist recusants and dissenters in each parish
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Featured image for “Camden’s Britannia”
November 2, 2024 • posted in Articles

Camden’s Britannia

Among the treasures of Saffron Walden Town Library are various editions of the first-ever topographical survey of the whole country, by William Camden
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