Saffron Walden Museum Museums

This award-winning "friendly family-size museum" welcomes over 20,000 visitors a year, including families, groups, researchers and over 5,000 school children. It stands in an enclosed grass meadow, suitable for picnics, with the ruins of the 12th century Walden Castle in the grounds.

The local and social history collections reflect life in the rural and market-town communities of north-west Essex. Significant among these is the collection of John Dane Player, which covers poor law administration and other topics. Important individuals represented include the poet Robert Southey (manuscripts, particularly his Common place Books), Henry Winstanley (prints and information relating to the Winstanley family), and letters of William Penn.

The natural history collections contain about 70,000 specimens of plants, animals, rocks, minerals and fossils. The founders of the museum and other 19th century naturalists presented most of these specimens.