For the first of this month's Heritage Open Days I took myself to Maldon, Essex. Ten miles east of Chelmsford, at the mouth of the Blackwater estuary, to save you checking on a map. The town got Beechinged in 1964, so that meant a train and then a bus, but then there were a dozen buildings to explore for free on a glorious late summer's day. As I said to the volunteer who asked why I'd come all the way from London, "if you're going visit a town, best visit when it's open".[12 photos]
Maldon was already 500 years old when this building first came into existence, circa 1420, and the medieval brick tower is still the original. Various civic and council functions have been added over the years, including a jail on the ground floor and a magistrates court on the second. From here you can nip out onto the balcony that intrudes into the high street and look down over shoppers nipping into M&S. A narrower staircase takes you to the second floor where the town council used to sit, and which has an authentic civic whiff, then an even tighter spiral leads to the roof. As the highestviewpoint in town it's something special, particularly if the tide's in and the interlocking fingers of the estuary are abuzz with boats. I also spotted Bradwell nuclear power station, a plane taking off from Southend Airport and the obligatory off-shore windfarm. Normal access: £4 tours, three days a week, April-October
It looks like a church, and originally it was, until 1699 when the Archdeacon of Rochester turned it into a library. Thomas Plume had been baptised in Maldon and wanted somewhere to bequeath his extensive collection of books after his death. They're still here, covering diverse subjects from theology to travel, and looked after by a devoted group of Friends. These volunteers were delightful, pointing out some of the finer titles, explaining why they don't lend books out any more and pressing home how easy it is to peruse the online catalogue and use the place for research. Photography's not allowed within the library, but imagine an aisle lined by wooden shelves stuffed with leatherbound volumes sorted according to where they fitted best. Normal access: Tue, Wed & Thu afternoons, Sat mornings, free
On the ground floor underneath the Thomas Plume Library is this artsy-craftsy historical gift shop kind of a place. Its chief exhibit is the Maldon Embroidery, a 42-foot labour of love completed to celebrate 1000 years since the Battle of Maldon in 991. This fracas kicked off on the causeway to nearby Northey Island, and the Vikings won, after which Ethelred the Unready tried to pay them off in the hope they'd go away. After Maldon's Tourist Information Centre closes (permanently) in a fortnight's time, this is probably the best place to come to find out what's going on in the town. Normal access: Tue-Sat, 11am-4pm, free
This is a bijou museum with a chain of small rooms, the first of which does the heavy lifting on the history of the town. Elsewhere it's more Victorian room/School room/Wartime room, amongst other themes, with bits of Maldon thrown in as appropriate. Exhibits include a fire engine, a model station layout and an alligator. Maldon sea salt obviously gets a mention, although there's nothing special about the town's seawater, it's just that the factory's been 'harvesting flakes' for longer than most. Oh, and the Park in question is Promenade Park, a super-recreational strip facing the estuary, and frequented by what looked like the entire population of Maldon and its surrounding districts. With water parks, refreshment huts, crabbing facilities, Rossi's ice cream, ornamental lake, adventure golf, a giant sandpit and the Blackwater to walk up and down, the council has pitched this perfectly. Normal access: Wed, Fri & Sat afternoons, Sun all day, £2
The Hythe is where all the maritime action is, or at least it was yesterday. I don't think there are always quite so many boats, sloops and barges moored up alongside, but their multitude of masts made for a most attractive sight. Yes, some of them do trips down the estuary. Yes, there are a couple of characterful pubs alongside.
The Brent is the last steamship operated by the Port of London and was withdrawn from service in 1970. Saved from scrap it sailed in private hands until 2011, then required major repairs so a charitable trust was set up to try to effect restoration. The volunteers are well organised and donation-hungry, and were offering hour-long tours of the not especially large boat, so I'm afraid I gave them a miss. Normal access: special weekends (including next week's regatta)
Walk out of town, upriver, and you may stumble upon this old Tudor house. I'm so glad I did. It started out as a cloistered abbey in the 12th century, suffered the usual fate under Henry VIII and was morphed into a private residence by an ambitious courtier. Too ambitious, because he got his head chopped off for supporting Lady Jane Grey. The most famous 20th century owner was William Foyle, bookseller extraordinaire, and it remains in the family... generally off-limits apart from occasional summer Open Days. Visitors only get to see the gardens but these are enthusiastically maintained, splendidly varied and annually upgraded. I met the head gardener in the new ornamental glasshouse and had a long cheery chat about the electronic blinds and solar-friendly ventilation, whereas I should perhaps have congratulated him on having so many roses in bloom in mid-September. Normal access: some Fridays, April-September, £6
Close to the confluence of the Blackwater and the Chelmer, a group of volunteers are struggling manfully to restore part of a flour mill to working order. The main water-powered building burnt to the ground in 1875, causing the smaller boiler-driven outhouse to be abandoned, which is why it now contains the only surviving 'Elephant' boiler in the UK. Sterling work is being done on the repairs, including the re-timbering of an upper storey and the restoration of an almost perfect double-acting Wentworth compound steam beam engine. The team are enormously proud of their achievements, I think because they don't get to show them off to the public very often, although after five minutes of reverently watching the engine in motion most of us were itching to withdraw. Normal access: National Mills Weekend and Heritage Open Days only
I also ticked off... All Saints' and St Mary's Churches: Because you have to. St Giles Leper Hospital: A few cruciform ruins amid a run of modern housing. Leech Memorial Garden: Ornamental hillside left to the town by two sisters (who lived opposite) after they died in an air crash. The Salt, Water and Beer Shanty Singers: A dozen vocal folk, the men older than the woman, unashamedly dispensing maritime ballads at several locations around the town.
