Saffron Walden memories
Here are memories of Saffron Walden and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Saffron Walden or a Saffron Walden photo.
A Patient's View
When I was eight I was admitted to Saffron Walden General Hospital for surgery. My parents were told that I would be discharged home at the end of the week. I vividly remember the feeling of being suffocated when the pad of chloroform was put over my face to anaesthetise me.
During the week a young girl was admitted to the ward with suspected Polio. She was put into a glass encased cubicle and the next day she was transferred to the isolation hospital. It was decided that all the children in the ward should be put into quarantine for three weeks, so my week turned into four! Visiting hours were restricted to a short time in the afternoon on Tuesdays, Thursdays and at the weekends as it was considered unsettling for children to see their parents more frequently! The weeks seemed very long. However, it obviously didn't affect me too adversely as, ten years later, I trained to be a SRN (State Registered Nurse!)
In later years... Read more
College Days
I was at the college for 2 years, maiden name Stone. I have wonderful memories of my time there. School practice in the school next door and outlying village schools.The people in the town were so friendly and we took part in a lot of local events. I attended the Methodist Church with a few of the students and the people there were very hospitable. Being very far from my home in Cornwall it was so good to have the support of the town people. I remember especially the wealth of music at that time at the Parish church and the Town Hall. I have returned twice to visit the College, now used as a language centre.
Childhood
I lived in Saffron Walden as a small child, I moved away when I was aged 10 but still think of it as home. There used to be a fishmongers in King Street which I think is a butchers now and we lived in the flat above it. I went to R.A. Butler School and spent many happy hours playing on the common. I remember clearly the night that the Rose and Crown Hotel burnt down as we could see it from our windows. My mum worked in the Saffron Hotel and I used to visit her at work sometimes with my gran for a bottle of coke and a packet of crisps. My mum's friend Muriel ran the Youth hostel in Magdalen Way and my friend Colin's family ran the Hoops pub. I got ran over by a car once on the corner of the road by the Hoops! I don't get back to Walden often enough, usually a family party or funeral, and really should make the effort... Read more
The Rose And Crown
I spent the first night following my wedding here so that spot will always have a special memory for me. The room was old and I seem to remember the floor was very uneven, however we did manage to have a great first night! My parents lived in Saffron for a number of years, eventually emigrating to New Zealand. I joined them later, minus my bride sadly.
I have visited Saffron on trips back to the UK on a number of occasions, it is still a beautiful little town and a place full of many happy memories. One special memory I have is of the delicious pork sausages available from the butcher's shop not far from the market square, they were a regular dish on a Saturday when I visited my parents in Saffron.
Appeal For Information
Hello
I don't have a memory as such. I am one of the current owners of the Saffron Hotel and am looking into its history and would love to hear from anyone of their memories and also any insight they can provide on its history. I have a certain amount of information obtained from census information but any other information would be greatly appreciated. We are asked so many times for the history on this great building and feel very embarrassed when we have only limited knowledge.
Many thanks
Angela Baulk
A Meeting Place
In the 1950's the building on the right of the picture was the Corn Exchange. The local farmers used to congregate there on Tuesdays which was market day. The buiding is now used as the public library.
Market day was not only stalls on the market square, as it is today. In the 1950's I remember that there was also a livestock market just around the corner from the market square. There were sheep and cattle. Next door there were hens, rabbits and auctions took place there. Later a pig market was constructed nearby.
When my grandparents, who lived in Derbyshire, came to stay, Grandpa would take me to the market. He enjoyed it as much as I did but for him it was also a novelty because there weren't any livestock markets in his home town.
Saffron Walden, my Home Town
I was born in Saffron Walden 57 years ago. I was a Mulcahy and went to St Mary's in Castle Street. It was reading about the paddling pool that prompted me into writing. I remember playing at that pool, oh so many years ago. We had such fun there and we could play so happily with no fear of being taken off or hurt like today. I could roam Saffron Walden and did freely from the age of 7. I seemed to know everyone in my surrounding area of the common and highfields. House doors were not locked, policemen walked the beat and we treated them with respect, to get told off by a copper meant your parents got told and then we got another telling off from Dad and a spanked bottom to go with it, it never did me any harm and I grew up knowing right from wrong. I still have a brother living in Walden. My mum used to work In Pennings the grocery shop... Read more
PADDLER
I have lived in Saffron Walden all my life of 50 years. I have many great memories of Saffron Walden. My greatest memories are of the time we had at the locally named Paddler. The Paddler was at the top end of Rowntree Way. The area had a Pumping Station owned by the Water Board (still there today). There was a large paddling pool, 2 large grass play areas (no longer there due to houses being built). The pool was a favourite place for families to go and have picnics and a swim, on a hot summer Sunday.
In one corner of the biggest area was a large tree, you had to climb part of the tree if you wanted to to be in one of the gangs that existed.
All the lads would go and play football on the grassy areas, using coats and bags as goalposts. The teams were usually picked by what part of Rowntree Way you lived in (Upper and Lower.) As the Paddler got... Read more
Memories of Essex
Rebecca Law
My great great great grandmother, Rebecca Law lived at Audley End Almhouses in the 1880's and 1890's. She lived to be 102 and her final years were spent living with her grandson and his family. The place she was living caught on fire and they took her out of the house in a wheelbarrow because she was bed bound.
She toiled until she was 70, when she was admitted to the Lord Braybrooke alsmhouses on the Audley End estate, where she remained until she was ninety. She went to live with her granddaughter, the wife of Mr. W. Carter, church clerk of Little Chesterford. Living in the same house are four generations - Mrs. Law, the centenerian; her eldest son, Mr. Thomas Law (also a centenarian)
The Leper Stone
My great aunt, Nora Buck, lived in the northern end cottage of Newport, aptly named Carnation Cottage as it overlooked greenhouses that were exclusively used for growing beautiful carnations until the outbreak of world war II. During those austere years the crop was changed to tomatoes for the `dig for victory` campaign. Each year, as a young boy, I visited my aunt, along with my parents, and I have many fond memories of Newport and Saffron Walden. After all these years I still manage to visit my auntie`s graveside in the parish churchyard. My great uncle died during that war. Nora`s close friend and neighbour, Mrs. Pallett, shared many a cuppa with her as her husband had also passed away during the war. A large obtuse stone can be found situated on the roadside just opposite these cottages. Legend has it that food was left by the villagers during the years when people suffering with leprosy tried to enter the village on the main London road. Nell Gwynn, who was... Read more
Relatives
I have no memories to share about Littlebury. I live in Derbyshire and my grandmother's side of the family on her father's side came fromthe Littlebury area. They lived in these parts from the 1800s. I would really like to know more about them, some settled in Derby and most stayed for generations in Littlebury. I can find information up to 1911 so please if anyone has any info, stories or pictures regarding this I would love to hear about it. Their name was Tinworth.
Thanking you,
Lynn.
Ginger...
We arrived in Wendens Ambo around this year, and took residence in a little cottage in the grounds of a big house. Opposite was a pond in which moorhens spent peaceful days. Next to the pond was a field - I think it is a play area and park now. One of my enduring memories is of a grey horse that grazed in that field. He and I had a wonderful relationship. I would lie on the ground and he would munch the grass peacefully nearby, and when I wandered off and saw some juicer spot, if I called, he would come and graze there. I can even remember being underneath his giant belly, with no fear that he would tread on me. One day a man came to the fence and leaned on it, and when the horse saw this man, he suddenly charged off and started snorting and leaping near to the man. The man moved away and must have gone in... Read more
Sawmill
My Great Grandfather's brother used to own a sawmill in Newport in Wartime (World War II). His name was George Alfred (Alf) Ginger and Alf was married to Rebecca. My father remembers visitng the sawmill as a boy, seeing his cousin Seorus and hearing stories about how their house, situated near the mill, was haunted. My father's Uncle Ralph would make matchsticks stand up on end! I would be interested hearing from anyone who knows anything about the sawmill or my long lost relatives.
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