Saffron Walden Free Grammar School | |
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Location | |
, England | |
Coordinates | 52°01′33″N0°15′09″E / 52.0258°N 0.2524°E |
Information | |
Established | 1525 |
Founder | Dame Joan Bradbury |
Closed | 1940 |
Gender | Boys |
Saffron Walden Free Grammar School (or Saffron Walden Grammar School) was a school in the Essex town of Saffron Walden, which for over four hundred years educated the boys of the town and surrounding villages in a manner designed to be after the model of Eton College and Winchester. It was notable for its longevity and for some of its illustrious alumni.
The earliest schools in Walden dated from 1423 under the control of the neighbouring monastery. [1] The Grammar School was founded by Dame Joan Bradbury in 1522. Lady Joan was the wife of London's Lord Mayor Thomas Bradbury (d.1510); her brother, John Leche, was the Rector of Saffron Walden. The grammar school by its constitution was for the benefit of the town and three villages in its vicinity. Joan and her brother, along with the local abbot and monastery, arranged its endowment with local guilds. They erected a school house and school room and Dame Joan "granted a rent charge for the support of a priest and to teach the children grammar after the order and use of Winchester and Eton." [1] In some histories, the school is deemed the successor of the 1423 establishment and thus has been described as having been refounded by Edward VI. The school bore the Tudor royal arms [2]
The original building, designed for 60 pupils, flanked the churchyard wall. It was replaced in 1655 by new premises in Castle Street. After over two hundred years in these buildings, which in part still stand today, the school moved to new buildings in 1881 in Ashdon Road which remained the home of the school until the Second World War. During World War II the 8th Air Force's 65th fighter wing (which was assigned the additional duty of Air Sea Rescue) had its fighter control center in the building because of its proximity to Debden airfield.
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Saffron Walden is a market town and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, 12 miles (19 km) north of Bishop's Stortford, 15 miles (24 km) south of Cambridge and 43 miles (69 km) north of London. It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. The population was 15,504 at the 2011 census and 16,613 in the 2021 census.
Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden KG, PC, KS, JP, was an English barrister and judge who served as Lord Chancellor of England from 1533 to 1544.
William Waynflete, born William Patten, was Headmaster of Winchester College (1429–1441), Provost of Eton College (1442–1447), Bishop of Winchester (1447–1486) and Lord Chancellor of England (1456–1460). He founded Magdalen College, Oxford, and three subsidiary schools, namely Magdalen College School in Oxford, Magdalen College School, Brackley in Northamptonshire and Wainfleet All Saints in Lincolnshire.
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Littlebury is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district, north-west Essex, England. The village is approximately a mile and a half from the market town of Saffron Walden, 12 miles (20 km) south from Cambridge, the nearest city, and 23 miles (37 km) north-east from the county town and city of Chelmsford.
Walden Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Saffron Walden, Essex, England, founded by Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex, between 1136 and 1143. Originally a priory, it was elevated to the status of an abbey in 1190.
Joan Leche, benefactress, was the wife successively of Thomas Bodley, and of Thomas Bradbury, Lord Mayor of London in 1509. She founded a chantry in London, and a grammar school in Saffron Walden, Essex. Her great-grandson, Sir John Leveson (1555–1615), was instrumental in putting down the Essex in 1601, and her great-grandson William Leveson acted as trustee for the original shareholders of the Globe Theatre.
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St Mary the Virgin is the parish church of Saffron Walden, Essex. It is the largest non-cathedral church in Essex with an overall length of 183 feet (56 m) and a spire 193 feet (59 m) high, which is the tallest in Essex. It was designated as a Grade I listed building in 1951.
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Saffron Walden Town Hall is a municipal building in the Market Place, Saffron Walden, Essex, England. The structure, which is the headquarters of Saffron Walden Town Council, is a Grade II listed building.