Visiting Maldon

[yerffoeg]

We like to visit Maldon once a year in our bilge keel cruiser. Although most yachts do not venture beyond Heybridge basin because of the shallower water upstream, Maldon is an attractive town and well worth a visit. But getting there without grounding is probably only feasible for shoal draft vessels, an hour or two either side of high water. I am writing this piece because there is not much information in any of the pilot guides.

The approach is well buoyed. Keep to the deepest water between the buoys as the river bed shoals steeply beyond the buoys. The channel just before and in front of the town waterfront ('The Hythe') was just over 3 metres deep (mid-springs) when we left at high tide recently. A port guide is available as a pdf file
http://mediafiles.thedms.co.uk/Publication/EE-Ess/cms/pdf/Maldon-port guide.pdf

There are not that many options for berthing. When the quayside was rebuilt a few years ago a visitors section was built just beyond where the barges moor, close to the Queen's Head Pub. Mooring is free. There is no electricity or tap on site. This section of the quay had silted up when we visited last year, with only 2 metre depth at high tide, but has since been dredged. There is probably just enough room enough for 2 boats of less than 10 metres. The public quayside can be quite busy with visitors, which is good, but maybe not so good if seeking privacy.

Going a little further upstream there are several pontoons projecting from the south bank There are visitor moorings on the downriver side of the second pontoon. This is owned by Shipways yard and has a freshwater tap and shore power connections. There is a well appointed shower and toilet block - the door is to the right of Marinstore Chandlery. The door code is available from the yard foreman and master boatbuilder Adrian. For our 8.2 metre boat we were charged £15-00. There was about 2.5 metres depth beside the pontoon at high water (mid springs). Beyond Shipways yard, going downstream, there is a maze of other yards. The 5th pontoon down seemed to have space for mooring on its upriver side (fender boards would be helpful), but I could not verify this. Going further upriver I think that Down's Road Yard would accomodate a visitor. Even further along there is probably the opportunity to moor against the old commercial wharves, but don't expect to find any other facilities immediately to hand.

The Hythe is an attractive place, not least because at any one time there are 6 or more Thames barges moored there. The harbourside is usually bustling and colourful. There is a nearby floating tea-roon and also two old City of London Dock tugboats undergoing restoration. Further along the promenade there is a park and more cafes. At the end of the tarmacked walk, going upstream, is a fine imposing bronze depicting Byrhtnoth, the Saxon chief who fought and lost to the Viking invaders in 991 at the battle of Maldon. On the other side of the river is marshland with lots of interesting birdlife.

The other pub on the Hythe is the 'Jolly Sailor'. Further into the Town High Street there are many excellent restaurants, stores etc. Don't miss seeing the Maldon Tapestry in the visitor centre. One personal gripe – it's daft that they don't have a visitor centre celebrating Maldon salt!

Maldon is a worthwhile destination; consider it next time you visit the Blackwater.

 

[johnalison]

Maldon can be quite fun. It is some years since we belonged to the MLSC but that is an alternative oasis for visiting yc members. We used to winter ashore there and brought our fin-keel boats up to the quay a number of times. I don't know the current depths but anything up to 1.5m or even more is practical for a lunch-stop. I'm not quite old enough to remember the battle, but it is odd how often we celebrate our losing teams.

 

[Marmalade]

Tend not to take Marmalade up there much these days (although we have sailed right up to the quay at high water in the past). Often take the Tideway dinghy up to Maldon though...

 

[Plum]

We like to visit Maldon once a year in our bilge keel cruiser. Although most yachts do not venture beyond Heybridge basin because of the shallower water upstream, Maldon is an attractive town and well worth a visit. But getting there without grounding is probably only feasible for shoal draft vessels, an hour or two either side of high water. I am writing this piece because there is not much information in any of the pilot guides.

The approach is well buoyed. Keep to the deepest water between the buoys as the river bed shoals steeply beyond the buoys. The channel just before and in front of the town waterfront ('The Hythe') was just over 3 metres deep (mid-springs) when we left at high tide recently. A port guide is available as a pdf file
http://mediafiles.thedms.co.uk/Publication/EE-Ess/cms/pdf/Maldon-port guide.pdf

There are not that many options for berthing. When the quayside was rebuilt a few years ago a visitors section was built just beyond where the barges moor, close to the Queen's Head Pub. Mooring is free. There is no electricity or tap on site. This section of the quay had silted up when we visited last year, with only 2 metre depth at high tide, but has since been dredged. There is probably just enough room enough for 2 boats of less than 10 metres. The public quayside can be quite busy with visitors, which is good, but maybe not so good if seeking privacy.

Going a little further upstream there are several pontoons projecting from the south bank There are visitor moorings on the downriver side of the second pontoon. This is owned by Shipways yard and has a freshwater tap and shore power connections. There is a well appointed shower and toilet block - the door is to the right of Marinstore Chandlery. The door code is available from the yard foreman and master boatbuilder Adrian. For our 8.2 metre boat we were charged £15-00. There was about 2.5 metres depth beside the pontoon at high water (mid springs). Beyond Shipways yard, going downstream, there is a maze of other yards. The 5th pontoon down seemed to have space for mooring on its upriver side (fender boards would be helpful), but I could not verify this. Going further upriver I think that Down's Road Yard would accomodate a visitor. Even further along there is probably the opportunity to moor against the old commercial wharves, but don't expect to find any other facilities immediately to hand.

The Hythe is an attractive place, not least because at any one time there are 6 or more Thames barges moored there. The harbourside is usually bustling and colourful. There is a nearby floating tea-roon and also two old City of London Dock tugboats undergoing restoration. Further along the promenade there is a park and more cafes. At the end of the tarmacked walk, going upstream, is a fine imposing bronze depicting Byrhtnoth, the Saxon chief who fought and lost to the Viking invaders in 991 at the battle of Maldon. On the other side of the river is marshland with lots of interesting birdlife.

The other pub on the Hythe is the 'Jolly Sailor'. Further into the Town High Street there are many excellent restaurants, stores etc. Don't miss seeing the Maldon Tapestry in the visitor centre. One personal gripe – it's daft that they don't have a visitor centre celebrating Maldon salt!

Maldon is a worthwhile destination; consider it next time you visit the Blackwater.

Many thanks for your posting. Regarding the visitor pontoon at Hythe Quay, I have not used it since it was dredged recently, what depth is there now?

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

 

[yerffoeg]

Thanks. We moored at Shipways yard a few days ago, so I cannot answer your question. I suspect the dredging was carried out for the benefit of the barges. Someone from the Barges Trust at Maldon may be be able to tell you more about the depths by the quayside.
http://www.bargetrust.org/

 

[Tomahawk]

There is a legend of the Battle of Maldon.

But acccording to a chap I knew who worked at Maldon DC, to date no one has found any archeological evidence of the battle actually taking place.

 

[Old Harry]

There is a legend of the Battle of Maldon.

But acccording to a chap I knew who worked at Maldon DC, to date no one has found any archeological evidence of the battle actually taking place.

Much the same a leaving the EU :encouragement:

 

[ex-Gladys]

I generally get a trip up to Maldon once a year (although it's not happened this year) with Gladys (1.5m draft fin keeler), although it's always an up and back. Last year I finally chickened out about 200 yards downstream from Fullbridge....

 

[FulmarJeddo]

I was at Heybridge last year and we walked into Maldon and had a look at the pontoon with the view to going up there for a night. We were a group of 4 boats and we were trying to work out if there would be room to raft up. We went to the Water Baliff's office, which was closed, but there was a board outside which appeared to show a visitors charge. I can't remember exactly what, but £27 seems to be lurking in my mind. We decided not to bring the boats up and pay that sort of price for virtually no facilities.
We may have got it wrong, but it did appear to be charged for.

 

[CLB]

I was at Heybridge last year and we walked into Maldon and had a look at the pontoon with the view to going up there for a night. We were a group of 4 boats and we were trying to work out if there would be room to raft up. We went to the Water Baliff's office, which was closed, but there was a board outside which appeared to show a visitors charge. I can't remember exactly what, but £27 seems to be lurking in my mind. We decided not to bring the boats up and pay that sort of price for virtually no facilities.
We may have got it wrong, but it did appear to be charged for.

I believe it’s free for two nights then the charge kicks in.

 

[Cantata]

Latest (5th) edition of ECP says no charge for occasional stays but may get charged for longer.
And it says about 2.5m at HWS, and a metre less at HWN.

 

[Ali-alshira]

Tomohawk


the battle of Maldon certainly took place. There is a Saxon poem about it, of which a long fragment still exists - wikipedia will give you a dcent translation. It probably was on a different site than the one claimed by English Heritage, which is by the causeway from Northey island. It is now thought that the causeway mentioned in the poem is more likely to be the one between Heybridge and Maldon which puts the battle site on a rather unattractive bit of road! Still, no artifacts seem to have emerged there either. But the account in the poem is of a glorious English defeat - we like those!

 

[Tomahawk]

The Causeway would be a more likely site for a battle.
But without actual evidence one is still left with just a poem ... which may have been a progenitor of fake news.

 

[tillergirl]

I bet nobody wanted to mark the spot in 991! Could it not be the causeway from Osea?

113-1335_IMG by Roger Gaspar, on Flickr

 

[Egbod]

There is a Maldon Port Guide available online as well as printed copies. See:
https://mhic.org.uk/navigation/

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Given the nature of the coast, I'd be quite surprised if the modern coast and river channel bear any relation to those of 991 AD. River channels meander, and sea-level has changed quite a lot over the last 1000 years - think of towns like Dunwich, a major Mediaeval seaport now out at sea and the Cinque ports, all of which as now well inland. So it is likely that the site of the battle was nowhere near the present river, and possibly now under an undistinguished field or housing estate.

The battle is attested in several other contemporary or near contemporary sources, notably the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, so there isn't much doubt that it happened. however, one source (Liber Eliensis) suggests that Byrthnoth only had a few men to resist the Vikings, so the battle may have been more of a skirmish with little chance of archaeological remains. Further, weapons and armour were valuable plunder; it is unlkely that the victorious Vikings would have left much behind for the archaeologists to find!

 

[johnalison]

Given the nature of the coast, I'd be quite surprised if the modern coast and river channel bear any relation to those of 991 AD. River channels meander, and sea-level has changed quite a lot over the last 1000 years - think of towns like Dunwich, a major Mediaeval seaport now out at sea and the Cinque ports, all of which as now well inland. So it is likely that the site of the battle was nowhere near the present river, and possibly now under an undistinguished field or housing estate.

At last - someone who knows how to spell. Have a virtual pint.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

At last - someone who knows how to spell. Have a virtual pint.

Thanks - and thanks for not pointing out the error later in the same sentence! I earn my marina fees by correcting English for Chinese scholars in Hong Kong, so I hope I can get it right!

 

[johnalison]

Thanks - and thanks for not pointing out the error later in the same sentence! I earn my marina fees by correcting English for Chinese scholars in Hong Kong, so I hope I can get it right!

I'll put that one down to a typing error, which is therefore a venial rather than a mortal sin.

 

[tillergirl]

I'll put that one down to a typing error, which is therefore a venial rather than a mortal sin.

Did you mean venal or venial?