Itineraries of the Georgian period when mentioning Saffron Walden describe the houses as being of “mean appearance,"[16] which remark, taking into consideration the debased taste of the times, is significant.  A perfect holocaust followed, which extending through that shocking time known as the Churchwarden Period has not yet spent itself in the present day.  Municipal improvements threaten to go further still, and in these commercial days, when combined capital under such appellations as the “Metropolitan Co-operative” or the “Universal Supply Stores” endeavours to increase its display behind plate-glass windows of immodest size, the life of old buildings seems painfully insecure.

  [16] Excursions in Essex, published in 1819, states:  “The old
  market cross and gaol are taking down.  The market cross has long
  been considered a nuisance.”

A good number of fine early barge-boards still remain in Saffron Walden, and the timber houses which have been allowed to remain speak only too eloquently of the beauties which have vanished.  One of these structures—­a large timber building or collection of buildings, for the dates of erection are various—­stands in Church Street, and was formerly the Sun Inn, a hostel of much importance in bygone times.  This house of entertainment is said to have been in 1645 the quarters of the Parliamentary Generals Cromwell, Ireton, and Skippon.  In 1870, during the conversion of the Sun Inn into private residences, some glazed tiles were discovered bricked up in what had once been an open hearth.  These tiles were collectively painted with a picture on each side of the hearth, and bore the inscription “W.E. 1730,” while on one of them a bust of the Lord Protector was depicted, thus showing the tradition to have been honoured during the second George’s time.[17] Saffron Walden was the rendezvous of the Parliamentarian forces after the sacking of Leicester, having their encampment on Triplow Heath.  A remarkable incident may be mentioned in connexion with this fact.  In 1826 a rustic, while ploughing some land to the south of the town, turned up with his share the brass seal of Leicester Hospital, which seal had doubtless formed part of the loot acquired by the rebel army.

  [17] These tiles have now found a place in the excellent local museum.

The Sun Inn, or “House of the Giants,” as it has sometimes been called, from the colossal figures which appear in the pargeting over its gateway, is a building which evidently grew with the needs of the town, and a study of its architectural features is curiously instructive.

The following extract from Pepys’s Diary is interesting as referring to Saffron Walden:—­