Maldon Museum (or "The Museum in the Park") is one of only a handful of the 168 museums in the country to have been awarded accreditation by the arts Council, an accolade it shares with the likes of Colchester Castle and its bigger brothers in Southend and Braintree. Each season we attract around 1,500 visitors half of whom come from outside the district and some from overseas.

The museum was established in the early 1920s as Maldon Borough Museum and at the outbreak of WWII the collection was put into storage but even so it was very unfortunate that many items were either lost or damaged beyond repair.

Mrs Cath Backus formed the Maldon district Museum Association and began rebuilding the collection and in 1968 the Association installed the remnants of the collection above a shop in Maldon High Street.

The museum grew in stature and importance in the town and in 1996 when the Park Keeper’s Lodge became vacant, the district Council agreed to the Association setting up the museum there. The district Council maintains the building but the Association pays all other expenses, raising money from membership, grants, entrance fees and other fund-raising activities.

The museum exhibits items directly related to the District and we hold a social, domestic and industrial history of Maldon and the surrounding district strectching back over the last two centuries, and beyond.

Some exhibits remain unchanged, but each year new displays are setup which relates to a topical subject or an anniversary of a special event. Favourite exhibits or displays include:

Old Maldon Shop Fronts

The Fire Engine

Maldon East Railway exhibition

1940s living room

Sadd's Joiners Shop

Victorian parlour & scullery

Maldon Cinemas

Maldon Swimming Club & Marine Lake

The Maldon Museum is housed in the Edwardian building that appears on the front page of this site, formerly known as the Park Keeper's Lodge.

We hold a vast archive of artefacts from Maldon’s history but there is not always enough room to display them all, so our displays are updated on a regular basis.