Thaxted
Thaxted is a beautiful small town in open countryside halfway between Saffron Walden and Great Dunmow. The compact nature of the historic centre with its timber framed buildings, its steeply pitched roofs and chimneys contrasts with the surrounding agricultural mosaic of brown, yellow and green. The church and windmill with its white sails dominate the town and surrounding area.
The early medieval village was granted a Charter in 1205 and by the 14th Century had become a rapidly expanding town complete with guildhall and market. Prosperity originally was the result of the establishment of a cutlery industry and guild. The town was granted borough status by Philip and Mary in a Charter dated 1556 which lasted until 1686. The magnificent church of cathedral proportions and the guildhall fronting a large market place are ample evidence of the town's former standing. Today Thaxted is one of Britain's most attractive and well preserved small towns. Its superb medieval buildings and quaint streets, many of which still bear ancient descriptive names such as Fishmarket Street, Town Street, Orange Street, Weaverhead Lane, The Tanyard and Stoney Lane, are unique.
Dunmow
Dunmow is a small market town, steeped in history with mellow plaster cottages, riverside church and beautifully restored Malting. The town is well known for its four-yearly ritual of the "Flitch Trials", in which couples must convince a jury of six local bachelors and six local maidens that they have never wished themselves un-wed for a year and a day. If successful the couple are paraded along the High Street and receive a flitch of bacon. The town's history is explained in the Maltings Museum on Mill Lane.
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