St Mary's church sits at the lower end of the town on the sloping ground leading to the Hythe.

Identified by its distinctive white steeple, the church spire was a welcoming beacon for sailors returning from the open sea as they sailed home up the river Blackwater.

At night in times long past, it was lit by hanging a hanging beacon light referred to as the mariners beacon by sailors who used it a a navigational aid.

The wooden shingled spire was not erected until 1740 but the beacon light was used for centuries before that from the tower.

A church has existed on this site since Saxon days. The original wooden structure was probably destroyed during the first battle of Maldon in 917 at which King Edward the Elder defeated the Danes.

After the Norman conquest in 1066 all the estates of the Saxon land owner Bishop Ingelric including the church were taken by Eustace, Count of Boulogne who was a brother-in-law of William the Conqueror. Saxon churches were rebuilt by Norman craftsmen after this period and it is recorded that the third church of St Mary’s Maldon was completed in 1130 during the reign of Henry I.