Maldon was established in A.D. 916 to defend what had been a gateway for the Romans, Saxons and Vikings. For the next 1,000 years the town developed slowly until the 19th century when industries such as brewing, salt-making and boat-building caused an increase in the population. "... immensely readable and, as with all of these quality pictorial histories published by Phillimore & Co., extremely dip-in-able." The Journal