Walking in the country: Audley End

Thursday 18 June 2009

Audley End

Returning from a visit to Cambridge, we decided to follow our usual policy of finding a walk. This one around Audley End was inspired by an internet search.

It begins near to Abbey Farm, south of Audley End house. We walked along a lane past redbrick Jacobean almshouses, now the College of St Mark and rather hard to get a clear sight of. Soon we entered the tiny village of Audley End with its mainly identical whitewashed Georgian cottages and tiny post office. It was a planned community built as part of the estate.

From here we walked east along Audley End road and turned through an iron gate to enter Audley Park: a typical great house park. We descended along the east side of the park and turned sharp left to follow the north side through first woodland and then grassy meadows.

We saw a bit of a nature drama at the edge of the woods: first we noticed a small rabbit in a clearing and then a flash of orange with a clear black end to its tail, as a stoat hurtled across the track we were following. There followed brief sounds of a struggle in the undergrowth and then silence.

The fields gave way to a wooded path around the wall of the estate and then we reached the B1383. Turning left along the road soon yielded a wonderful view of the house, with the 1790 folly known as the Temple of Concord visible on the hill behind.

Now we turned left again, crossed the stone bridge designed by Robert Adam, and reached the main entrance. After exploring the grounds and taking a very interesting and enjoyable tour of the house we returned through the village to the car.

Map: Explorer 195 (Braintree and Saffron Walden).

Rating: three and a half stars. The house is a wonderful sight, but the walk was a bit disappointing, there being less open park land and views than expected - and more road.

Audley End house

A very interesting house with impressive Jacobean plaster ceilings, interior features by Vanbrugh and Robert Adam, some nice paintings (Canaletto, Holbein, Lely) and landscaping by Capability Brown.

The most staggering discovery however was that the house we see today represents only about a sixth of the original structure. The site originally accommodated a monastery and was given to Sir Thomas Audley by Henry VIII after the Dissolution of the Monasteries for services rendered. These included presiding over the trials of Sir Thomas More and Anne Boleyn. He converted the monastic buildings into a substantial house.

However, within 50 years ownership had passed to Thomas Howard, who was created the first Earl of Suffolk by James I in 1603. Suffolk wanted to cement his new found position by creating a prodigy house and so razed the old buildings and had a magnificent palace constructed. The house consisted of two courtyards, one behind the other, and was completed in 1614. However, only a bit over a hundred years later the house had become too big to be affordable and was in poor repair. So it was drastically reduced in size and remodelled. The house which remains formed the axis between the two courtyards of the original prodigy house.

Apart from the house itself, the park includes the splendid Jacobean stables ...