Maldon District - History

History

The first evidence of a settlement to the north of Maldon at Elms Farm is the Middle Bronze Age 3500 years ago. From 500 BC onwards the red hills of the Crouch and Blackwater show us that there was a continuous and extensive activity in salt making which still prospers today.

Later, during the Iron Age, about 100 BC, there was a port, set among the marshlands at the junction of the Blackwater and Chelmer rivers. This settlement may have been of regional religious significance, and there is evidence that it traded in luxury goods with Europe.

Elms Farm continued as a port and market place but was clearly superseded in importance by Colchester in the 1st century AD, when Colchester became the first capital of the Roman administration.

The Romans founded Othona in the 3rd century. It was a fortress at the mouth of the Blackwater built to protect the estuary from Saxon pirates. It was here in 654 AD that St Cedd founded the church of St Peter-on-the-Wall, the oldest church in England to retain much of its original fabric.

In 664 AD St Cedd attended the Synod of Whitby which merged the Anglo-Celtic Church with the Church of Rome. Recent changes in the coastline have revealed the remains of extensive Saxon 5-7th century fish traps. The Church stands today overlooking the North Sea from whence came further invaders in the 10th century - the Danes.

In 912 AD and 914 AD Edward the Edler camped at Maldon to organise defences in the desperate fight against the Danes. In 917 AD the Saxons were defeated at Colchester and besieged at Maldon, but eventually the Danes were defeated.

In 991 AD there was a major battle between the pillaging Danes led by Olaf Trygvassen who had already attacked Ipswich, and Earl Bryhtnoth's men who were defending Maldon on the instruction of the Saxon King Ethelred the Unready. Earl Bryhtnoth was in his sixties. The battled was recorded in a poem which is regarded as one of the finest examples of early English literature.

The famous Battle of Maldon took place beside the River Blackwater on 10 August 991, during the reign of Ethelred the Unready. The Anglo-Saxons, led by Byrhtnoth and his thegns, fought against a Viking invasion, a battle which ended in defeat for the Anglo-Saxons.