Maldon

Maldon, a municipal borough of Essex, 9 miles E. of Chelmsford and 38 NE. of London (by rail 44), stands on a hill near the confluence of the Chelmer and the Blackwater, in the vicinity of which traces are still extant of a Roman encampment. It has two fine churches, partly Decorated and partly Perpendicular, and a quaint town or moot hall dating from the reign of Henry VI. The manufacture of crystallised salt is a speciality, and in the Blackwater—a noted resort of wild-fowl—are extensive oyster-fisheries. From 1328 to 1867 Maldon returned two members to parliament, and thence to 1885 one. Plume, founder of the professorship of Astronomy at Cambridge, General Gates, and J. R. Herbert, R.A., were natives, and Landseer's parents residents till 1815. In the battle of Maldon (991), the subject of a famous old English poem, the English under Brihtnoth were defeated by Norwegian Vikings under Guthmund and Olaf Tryggvason. Pop. (1801) 2358; (1881) 5468; (1891) 5397. See Fitch's Maldon and the River Blackwater (1895).