A NEW BOOK ABOUT 19th CENTURY SAFFRON WALDEN

 THE WELL-ORDERED TOWN:

A Story of Saffron Walden, Essex

1792—1862

 by Jacqueline Cooper

 A major new study of Saffron Walden in the 19th century was published in October 2000. Entitled The Well Ordered Town: A Story of Saffron Walden, Essex, 1792-1862, it represents the end of a seven-year project for the author, Jacqueline Cooper, who has previously written the history walks guide, Discover Walden.

The new book explores the town's social history - its politics, poor laws, economy, crime, allotments, philanthropy, education and religion - during a particularly turbulent period. As a bonus, there are also extracts from a 'lost' 50,000-word 19th century journal, rediscovered by Mrs. Cooper after it had been missing from the town for 30 years. Many other little-known archives have been used, and there are detailed references, including a surname index of over 200 local names.

Starting with the banning of the radical volume, Tom Paine's Rights of Man, in 1792, the history continues through the many challenges of maintaining an orderly town at a time of burgeoning population and deepening poverty. The story ends in 1862 with the completion of the town missionary's journal, detailing the reality of life among the pauperized population of Walden's meaner streets and outlying hamlets of Little Walden and Sewards End.

The new volume will interest local and family historians, researchers and all those fascinated by the town's past. Local Studies Librarian Martyn Everett describes the new work as a painstaking reconstruction of the social structure and daily life of Saffron Walden in the first half of the nineteenth century. He feels that it 'lays bare the unequal power relations that split the community into "haves" and "have-nots", and explains how the often self-serving nature of social philanthropy was used as a means of reinforcing that division.' This is, says Mr. Everett, 'the real stuff of local history', which will alter most people's image of the old town.

The author has tried to explore the dynamics of the late Georgian and early Victorian society which laid the foundation for the town we know today: 'Saffron Walden was built on the backs of such ordinary folk, who comprise most peoples' ancestors,' she comments, 'and yet we know so little about them. They were often illiterate, and the records left by the middle-classes tend to put their own gloss on events, so we end up with a very one-sided picture of 19th century society.' Mrs. Cooper, however, has not been content to accept traditional accounts of Walden's past, but has dug deeper to touch on the lives of its poorer citizens, rather than just the few better-known families. Challenging and well-written, this illustrated, 288-page book fills an important gap in 19th century studies of Saffron Walden.

The Well-ordered Town is available for purchase direct from the author at a special price of £12.99, plus £2 pp. Email Jacqueline direct for more information.