More information : In 913 AD King Edward camped at Maldon while the borough
was constructed at Witham. He built a borough here in 919 AD which
was beseiged by the Danes in 920 AD. It stood on the west side
of Maldon, crossed by the road to Chelmsford, and consisted of
two concentric rings of entrenchment covering an area of possible
twenty-two acres. In 1740 three sides were extant but by 1921 only
two slight scarps in the field north of the London Road were all that
remained. (1-3)
Mint of Athelstan (924-939) at Maldon, a single coin from it was in
the Rome Forum hoard found in 1883 (4). (4)
Rodwell suggested this earthwork may represent an embanked Roman
town of Trinovantes (5). (5)
The Lodge garden at Maldon lay within the Saxon camp (a). A reduction
of the plan from authority 2 was superimposed over the 6 inch
sheet, orientated by the London Road and the Lodge garden, but no
trace of this earthwork found. (6)
No extant remains of the earthworks seen in 1921 could be
identified. Their suggested line would seem to follow the steep
natural scarps bordering Dykes road, but the area is now largely
covered by modern development.
No Saxon or early Medieval finds have been reported from the area
which has produced some Roman material as well as Bronze Age and
Iron Age (TL 80 NW 18). The only Saxon occupation evidence is
from half a kilometre to the east in the centre of the present
town.(TL 80 NE 47).
Rodwell's suggestion that the work may be Iron Age/Roman could well
be correct. (7)
TL844070. A substantial ditch was recorded north-west of this N.G.R. It's line corresponds with that postulated for the Saxon burh and sherds of grass-tempered pottery possibly of 10th century date, came from its fill. (8)
Additional references (9,10)
Recent excavations at Maldon suggest that the supposition that the burh re-used an Iron Age hillfort cannot at present be sustained by the evidence available, but equally it cannot be ruled out. Enough evidence now exists to confirm that the plans of the burh drawn in the C18th are broadly correct. Little archaeological material has been found within the burh, and the current hypothesis is that the burh was a temporary refuge, the main settlement developing along the present High Street to the East of the burh where finds of C9th-11th date are relatively frequent. The burh certainly overlies a substantial Iron Age settlement, but so far no features of Iron Age date other than a couple of pits have been identified. The evidence suggests that the burh enclosed an area of 20 acres.
There is no evidence of a Roman settlement. (11) |