230
THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
to the largeness of the party many members of it were quartered in other inns
and in private lodgings. However, the numerous delicate problems of "billeting"
were at length solved to everyone's satisfaction, and the official business of the day
began at the Moot, or Town Hall.
Maldon is one of those modest little towns, shadowed o'er with the mantle of
"Dear Lady Quiet," which happily still flourish in many parts of rural England.
It stands on the ridge of the southern banks of the Blackwater, and with its red
roofs, church towers, and river-side "hards" crowded with old-fashioned shipping,
the town, as seen from the river, wears an air of picturesque age, signs and
seasoning of antiquity which a glance at its history abundantly confirms ; its only
rival in this respect in Essex (if not in England) being the neighbouring town of
Colchester—the British Camulodunon. Two principal rivers mingle their waters
to form the Maldon Blackwater—the Pant, which rises near Wimbish, and the
Chelmer, from near Debden and Thaxted : this last river was made navigable to
Chelmsford in 1797. The rivers expanding into a broad estuary afford to Maldon
all the facilities and gain of an excellent port for vessels of considerable size. It
was on the banks of the united rivers (as Mr. Fitch told us later on) that Unlaf,
the Viking, met and conquered the noble Brihtnoth, the Ealdorman, and the
heroic passage of arms is recorded in deathless verse in the "Song of Maldon,'
one of the "noblest efforts of Teutonic poetry." It is as the scene of this battle, so
well pictured by Freeman in his "Norman Conquest," that Maldon owes its niche
in history: the town's subsequent life has been one of sober and uneventful
industry, and its burgesses, wisely eschewing the dangerous political partisanships
of some of their neighbours, have retained their ample charters and privileges
from legendary times, almost, of English story to the present day.
The Moot Hall is an interesting red-brick building, dating from the early part
of the fifteenth century. It was erected by Sir Robert D'Arcy (M.P. for
Maldon, 1st Henry VI. (1422), Sheriff of Essex and Herts in 1420; died 1469),
and is still sometimes called the "D'Arcy Tower." It is referred to in a deed
in the possession of the Corporation, dated 27th January, 18 Hen. VI. (1440).
The company assembled in the Quarter Sessions room (the Council Chamber being
under repair), and accommodation was found for them on the bench, round
the advocate's table, and even in the dock ! Here they were received by Mr.
Fitch, wearing his robes and chain of office, in his dual character of Mayor of
Maldon and President of the Club. Here also Mr. J. C. Freeman, the genial
and popular Town Clerk, displayed fourteen of the seventeen Royal Charters
which had at various times been granted to the Borough, some of them being
fine specimens of illumination and penmanship, especially those of Henry V.,
Henry VI., and Henry VIII. The earliest known Charter (that of Henry
II.) has been unfortunately missing for fifty years past, but Mr. Fitch stated
that he had strong hopes of finding it in the muniment-room on the first wet
day convenient for a search. The Charters exhibited consequently commenced
with the second, dated 6th June, 1290; but the comparative completeness of
the series, and the good condition of the deeds, is a remarkable example of
careful wardship, and in 1836 Sergeant Merewether wrote : "I have rarely,
if ever, seen an instance in which the records of a borough were so numerous,
so ancient, and so satisfactory as those of Maldon."
Other objects exhibited were the fine Mace of silver, "parcel-gilt," made
by Francis Garthorn, a famous worker in plate, and presented to the town in