Town Hall - Saffron Walden

I had to visit Saffron Walden this morning so I took a picture of the Town Hall.

Saffron Walden is a preserved medieval market town with some very fine examples of architecture, which I will probably blip over the coming winter months when there might not be very much else about; in my opinion it is not much good for shopping!

Saffron Walden has been a market town since 1141, but it was smaller than the neighboring town of Newport. Newport, as the name implies was once a port and Saffron Walden was not. Saffron Walden was associated with growing the precious crop of saffron. Saffron was in great demand for the woollen industry and brought enormous wealth to the town. However, Newport is still little more than a village as it has only just over 2,000 inhabitants; the population of Saffron Walden is considerably higher at around 15,000.

The Town Hall was built in 1761, but was remodelled in 1879. The money to remodel this building was provided by the retiring mayor of Saffron Walden, George Stacy Gibson; he was a local business man and mayor between 1875 and 1877. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s extensive repair work has been carried out, but a portrait of Gibson still hangs in the building.