Maldon

Maldon (, locally ) is a town and civil parish on the Blackwater Estuary in Essex, England. It is the seat of the Maldon District and starting point of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation. It is known for Maldon Sea Salt which is produced in the area. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 14,938, and the Maldon built up area as defined by the Office for National Statistics, which extends beyond the parish boundary to also take in Heybridge to the north, had a population of 23,380.

==History== ===Early and medieval history=== The place-name Maldon is first attested in 913 in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, where it appears as Maeldun. Maldon's name comes from mǣl, meaning 'monument or cross', and dūn meaning 'hill', so translates as 'monument hill'. East Saxons settled the area in the 5th century and the area to the south is still known as the Dengie Peninsula after the Dæningas. It became a significant Saxon port with a hythe or quayside and artisan quarters. Recent scholarship has linked it to Haegelisdun, the site of the death of Edmund the Martyr at the hands of the Great Heathen Army.