saffron
walden
historical society

Featured image for “Moat Farm: The Murder – new documents”
September 8, 2025 • posted in Articles

Moat Farm: The Murder – new documents

The story of this scheming, philandering killer, Samuel Herbert Dougal and his callous elimination of Camille Holland, in order to get hold of her money, has been retold so endlessly in numerous books and articles, even novels and plays, that one would think there was nothing left to say on the subject.
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Featured image for “Cotman Connections: a case of serendipity”
September 4, 2025 • posted in Articles

Cotman Connections: a case of serendipity

Our search gradually revealed the history of another family in Church Street, one that produced one of our finest watercolour painters, John Sell Cotman.
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Featured image for “Molehill Green Landscape History”
August 31, 2025 • posted in Articles

Molehill Green Landscape History

Molehill Green, a hamlet which is part of the parish of Takeley, bordering on Broxted, was envisaged to almost completely disappear if the proposal to build a second runway for Stansted Airport had gone ahead
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Featured image for “Saffron Walden Convent”
August 27, 2025 • posted in Articles

Saffron Walden Convent

Until 1974, a forbidding brick wall ran along the Ashdon Road on the north side of the Common, largely concealing an even more forbidding and austere building.
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Featured image for “The Stone Coffin, the Lost Chapel and the Miracle of the Ring”
August 23, 2025 • posted in Articles

The Stone Coffin, the Lost Chapel and the Miracle of the Ring

This is the intriguing story of one of the Miracles associated with Edward the Confessor, the last of the Saxon kings, and of its connection to a long-forgotten chapel in the village of Clavering in NW Essex
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Featured image for “1979 Blueprint for Walden Buildings published: Saffron Walden Conservation Study”
August 19, 2025 • posted in Articles

1979 Blueprint for Walden Buildings published: Saffron Walden Conservation Study

Lorry drivers like driving through old towns and enjoy the nuisance value they create.
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Featured image for “John Collin, Attorney of Saffron Walden,       1740- 1783”
August 15, 2025 • posted in Articles

John Collin, Attorney of Saffron Walden, 1740- 1783

John Collin, who was born in 1740 and died in 1783, was an attorney and banker from Saffron Walden.
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Featured image for “The Misses Hart of Saffron Walden”
August 11, 2025 • posted in Articles

The Misses Hart of Saffron Walden

The story of Hart’s is well known: of how Henry Hart, a carpenter’s son from Linton, was apprenticed as printer in 1814 to George Youngman in Market Hill, Saffron Walden; and of how he bought his own printing press in 1836 and set up a stationery shop.
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Featured image for “Saffron Walden College”
August 5, 2025 • posted in Articles

Saffron Walden College

During the years 1884-1977 Saffron Walden College for Mistresses had a distinguished history. It was early in the field of providing a course related to the multi-ethnic character of many schools
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Featured image for “Clavering Castle: a mysterious moated monument”
July 31, 2025 • posted in Articles

Clavering Castle: a mysterious moated monument

Clavering Castle, which lies next to the Parish Church, is a large moated site designated by English Heritage as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, of Saxon or medieval origin.
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Featured image for “National Trust in Saffron Walden and North-West Essex”
July 27, 2025 • posted in Articles

National Trust in Saffron Walden and North-West Essex

The National Trust in recent years has spoken out about the damage that could accompany ill-considered decisions to build on green-field sites as a result of the relaxation of current planning policies.
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