[Source: Nick Catford and Darren Kitson]

Audley End branch platform in July 1970. There is no town or village named Audley End and the station is named after Audley End House, the nearby Jacobean mansion. Audley End House is in effect a converted Benedictine monastery, Walden Abbey, which was given to Sir Thomas Audley by King Henry VIII in 1538 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Sir Thomas named the house Audley Inn and Audley End is derived from that name. During WWII the house was a base for the Special Operations Executive and the GHQ defensive line passed through its grounds. Some evidence of the GHQ line remains visible today. Audley End station is situated in the delightfully named village of Wendens Ambo; a 17th century merger of Wenden Magna and Wenden Parva. Magna and Parva mean Great and Little respectively. The Ambo part of the present name seems to derive from the sharing of one church by the original two villages. The railway station was originally named Wenden but was renamed Audley End in November 1848. This was, of course, long before the Saffron Walden branch was constructed. The houses seen in the background are part of Wendens Ambo. The rather grander building in the background and directly ahead of the camera is the Neville Arms Hotel. It is a much larger building than the image suggests but has long since ceased to be an hotel. It survives today as Neville House and is used as offices.
Photo by John Mann