Most British towns have grown so much over the ages that we enter them without noticing – there's no grand bridge or city gate. Instead, there are stretches of new housing estates and retail or industrial warehouses. Arriving on the A414 from Danbury we see all of these. But historically, a major entry point for the town was the road along The Causeway from Heybridge and over the Chelmer at Fullbridge.

This was the lowest point at which the Chelmer could be crossed, and in medieval times a toll of one penny was charged per cart or packhorse crossing the bridge. The modern building by the bridge known as the Toll House at the bottom of Market Hill serves as a reminder of this.

There have been a number of bridges on this site: I haven't seen any pictures of the earlier bridges, but an illustration of around 1840 shows one built in 1800, with a high arch to permit river traffic and a narrow roadbed which would only permit one cart at a time. Nevertheless, the arch plus the steep incline up Market Hill would have been an impressive sight. The inn to the right is "The Angel", a 16th Century building later called "The Welcome Sailor" and now, of course, "The Sunny Sailor".

This bridge was replaced with an iron construction in 1878. Both bridges could allow barges to progress upriver, though they would only have gone as far as Beeleigh Mill because of the weir a mile upstream from the bridge, and the shallow water would have made even that trip difficult.

The 1878 bridge was declared unsafe just before World War 2, and a temporary bridge built next to it, with a rather alarming S-bend at either end to allow traffic to divert. A permanent replacement was delayed by the war and the challenging post-war economy, but the temporary bridge in its turn was condemned, and a permanent replacement of pre-stressed concrete (to take heavier modern traffic) proposed.

Because of its construction this would have 13 inches less headroom over the water, which meant that Essex County Council had to have a special Bill taken through Parliament.

This led to a comically ill-tempered exchange in Parliament in May 1960, with Commander Harry Pursey, member for Hull East, passionately arguing for the new bridge to be raised 13 inches to allow freedom of navigation to Beeleigh and reduce the risk of flood water backing up against the bridge.

Pursey was unaware that Beeleigh Mill had burned down in 1876, and the last barge to navigate beyond the bridge had done so in 1922. Furthermore, the raising of approach roads to accommodate this change would have placed The Welcome Sailor four feet below the road, with a steep climb for patrons exiting the bar. Commander Pursey responded by proposing its demolition.

Presumably Commander Pursey's amendment was rejected, because work duly began on the present bridge with no change of road level. Which brings us back to the question of town entrances: how effective is it in showcasing one of the approaches to the town? Well, the bridge is wide and functional, and the best thing about it is the views to either side. Also, its success in helping high volumes of traffic access the town centre gives us the pollution problem that afflicts Market Hill.

But Market Hill still offers a grand approach to the town centre, and the Sunny Sailor, No 3 Fullbridge (the old White Hart), and Fullbridge House all give character to the Heybridge side of the river. On the other side, the "Lighthouse" building is a striking late 20th Century development that creates a gateway to the town. Its belvedere (the lantern-like viewing point at the top) is a tribute to a peculiarly Maldon architectural feature – but that's for another week!