Maldon Marsh (EHER 48455)

An area of improved grazing marsh adjacent to the Blackwater Estuary which runs alongside a canal dug from White House Farm to the estuary. The canal has a ‘sea wall’ on either side of it. The marshland edge is marked by sinuous and straightened boundary ditches. Former creeks are visible as faint cropmarks in places. The grazing marsh vegetation has been largely lost.

2014. Historic Grazing Marsh Project. Historic environment character: The marsh area was embanked by 1777 <1>. Sea wall and borrow dyke are characteristic features. Former creeks visible on aerial photographs. A post medieval canal dug from White House Farm to the estuary is an unusual feature but was short lived and had gone out of use by the time of the 1st edition OS map <2>. The canal has a ‘sea wall’ on either side of it. The marshland edge is marked by sinuous and straightened boundary ditches. Character of vegetation: Improved agricultural grazing land. Dominated by Creeping Bent Agrostis stolonifera, Perennial Rye-grass Lolium perenne and Red Fescue Festuca rubra. Threats: Grazing marsh vegetation already largely lost. Further threatened by continued agricultural improvement. Shoreline Management Plan: Hold the Line to 2105. See <3>.