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| Maldon Castle: Plan |
Complete View of the Manners,
Customs, Arms, Habits & Co of the Inhabitants of England, 1774, by Joseph
Strutt.
Essex references
4. Maldon and Witham
Pages 24-25
“Plate 2, No. 3 & 4,
represents the plan and perspective view of the remaining ground-work of a
Saxon castle, yet to be seen at Maldon, in the County of Essex; and by
historians reported to have been constructed by Edward the elder, when he
rebuilt the town of Maldon.
“(1) Though this fortification is easily traced
out, yet the out-works are not quite so perfect as that below it, No. 5, and
6. So for want of proper examination, it
is generally said to be Roman; but it will easily be proved to be Saxon, both
from being like the castles that people raised into a keep, and from the
breadth of the ditch; which (though narrower than that at Witham, No. 5, and
6.) greatly exceeds those of Roman construction, even of a much more extensive
fortification: and on these two circumstances are grounded the sure criterion
by which the earth-works of the Roman and Saxon fortifications are to be
distinguished from each another.
“A (fig 3) is the keep which
was surrounded by a strong wall, and within which, were the appartments of the
garrison: its breadth is about 220 yards, and its length 290. B is the ditch, about 20 yards in breadth; at
C is the imperfect remains of the outer vallum (or bank of earth) which has
been greatly dug down to make room for the plough; but at D it is yet in a very
perfect state, in some places full 4 feet high.
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| Maldon Castle: Perspective |
“Fig 4 is a perspective view
of the same, supposing all obstacles removed.
“(2) The ground-work of another of these Saxon
Castles, is yet remaining at Witham, being between the church and the town, the
form and size of it are yet very visible; this castle was likewise built by
Edward the elder, (who resided at the Castle at Maldon while it was
compleating) which was about the year 912 or 914. The middle circle A (plate 2 fig 5) contains
the keep or castle, and is about 160 yards in diameter, and 486 yards round;
the ditch B, is now filled up with the digging down of the keep, and is in its
perfect state 260 feet in breadth; beyond the ditch is the external vallum,
which is yet in a very perfect condition full 4 feet high, and 18 or 20 feet in
breadth; the circumference of the whole is about 1000 yards. Where the external vallum is broken off at D,
there is a steep precipice down to the river, so that here the ditch seems only
to be a common surface of earth below the keep; but this has been effected in
labouriously digging down the external vallum, for the more easy ploughing up
of the ground round about it. Fig 6
represents of the same, the trees, hedges, &c. taken away.
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| Witham Castle: Plan |
“The general form of the
ground-work of these Saxon Castles were round, though they were often varied
according to their nature and situation of the place where they were
erected. That at Maldon (above
described) could not well be round, on account of the steepness and sudden declivity
of the hill (at the north west side) on the brow of which (to make the
fortification more strong and inaccessible) it was built.”
References: (1) Chron. Mariani
Scot. See Camden’s Essex. (2) See London
in Essex. H Hunt. Lib. v. in Via Edwardi.
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| Witham Castle: Perspective |
Footnote: 'The Burh at Maldon' was the subject of a paper read by I Chalkney Gould to the Essex Archaeological Society on 30 June 1906, and reproduced in Volume 10 Part 2 of Transactions. The illustrations are those from Strutt's work. "Nothing notable remains," Chalkney Gould reports.
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