Plans for marking the 850th anniversary of Maldon's first known Royal Charter are under discussion.

The year 2021 marks 850 years since King Henry II issued the charter on 7 October, 1171. It specified the lands contained with the borough's boundaries and set out the customs and obligations applying to the townspeople.

The king retained lordship over the town and asserted his continued right to be supplied with a ship "when necessary". This section of the charter refers to an earlier agreement, so it is likely that there was an earlier version of the charter, now lost.

A copy of the 1171 charter is displayed on the wall of the Moot Hall in High Street, Maldon - it seems the original has not survived.

At a full meeting of Maldon Town Council last night (Monday, 1 February), Councillor Stephen Nunn gave an update from the working group tasked with planning how to celebrate the anniversary.

Cllr Nunn said: "I have been in Maldon long enough to remember the 800th anniversary in 1971, when the Queen visited Maldon, but obviously with the pandemic things are different this year."

Cllr Nunn said the group would be talking to the Moot Hall and other organisations around the town to come up with how the occasion could still be celebrated, despite Covid. One idea is to create a video and another is to look at town twinning opportunities.

The working group will meet again on 1 March.