MALDON’S High Street is one of the oldest thoroughfares in town.

It was originally the route out of a fortified zone (known as the ‘Burh’) centring on today’s London Road, leading down to the landing place on the river’s edge (at the Hythe).

We know that the Burh was constructed in 916 and that the word ‘Hythe’ is derived from the Old English ‘hyp’, meaning ‘safe haven’.

From those 10th Century days, buildings began to be constructed along the route and their remains have been discovered during keyhole archaeology in advance of subsequent developments and alterations.

The residents of some of those buildings would have offered things for sale – such as meat, fish, pottery and metalwork.

From those Dark Age origins, the High Street evolved into the commercial hub that we know today.

Behind later facades are hidden the timbers of medieval shop fronts – small window type openings, more akin to kiosks.

Arrangements became more sophisticated from the late-16th Century onwards until, during the Victorian era, dedicated internal trading spaces with large plate-glass frontages and overhead advertising emerged.

Many of those 19th Century configurations are still recognisable.

At this time of the year, Maldon’s Dickensian High Street would have been buzzing with shoppers preparing for the festive season.

Despite the construction of supermarkets and trading estates on the edge of town, more than a hundred years later it is still possible to buy all that you need for your modern-day Christmas in our characterful High Street.

So let’s step back in time (but continue to have an eye on the present) and go on a Victorian Christmas shopping spree.

We need to address the important things first – food and drink!

Although most of us favour a turkey for Christmas dinner, these were too expensive for most people to enjoy.

Instead roast beef, rabbit or roasted goose were the traditional fayre.

In 1894 we could have bought our meat from the family butcher, NE (Norris) Blaxall at 5 High Street.

We can still do it today, for it is now Ansell & Sons, a butchers that continues in the tradition of “quality, service and value”.

Alternatively, we could buy the meat from Bunting’s, “purveyor of fine cuts”, at number 89. Today the shop front proudly tells us that the business was founded in 1882.

We mustn’t forget some Maldon Salt (also founded 1882) and perhaps a couple of Maldon oysters.

Next we need our vegetables. From 1890 to 1899, Charles Redgewell, greengrocer, traded from 159 High Street (now JP Tackle). To ensure freshness, he collected his produce daily from the market gardens of Tolleshunt D’Arcy.

At the time of writing there is a really good fruit and veg stall at the rear of the Emporium at 85-87 High Street.

Now for the booze.

At number 9 (currently the Jewellery Design Workshop and Café Brazil) JW Samms ran his grocery and provisions business. He was also a dealer in “Ale and Stout in cask and bottle (and) British and Foreign Wines”.

In 2020 we can pop into M&S Simply Food (at 40-40a) to look at their extensive wine selection.

Then on to Farmer’s Yard at 140, or the Tap Room at 10 to obtain details of how to order locally brewed beer.

Commercially produced Christmas cards came in from around 1860. Gowers, at 57 High Street (now Kate Lifestyle), was the place to go in the 1890s for all postcards, almanacs, guides and, growing in popularity, messages of season’s greetings to send to loved ones.

Nowadays we are spoilt for choice when it comes to card shops – the Card Company (at 52), Paper Kisses (70d) and Best Wishes (50) to name but three – as well, of course, as the various charity shops.

Presents have always been an essential feature of a good Christmas.

For the children, Charles Harris was at number 103 (now Salon Central) and, as well as being a blacksmith, from 1894 had a “Toy and Fancy Bazaar”.

Nowadays the boutique shop, Upstairs Downstairs, in Edward’s Walk (accessed via 30 High Street) stocks some toys as well as gifts for the adults, including skincare and fashion accessories.

But when it comes to gifts there is probably more variety on offer now than there was more than a hundred years ago.

Granted in 1894 there were clothiers, curio dealers, florists, bicycle-makers, music-sellers, photographers and watchmakers. But you only have to look at the ‘Visit Maldon’ website directory (visitmaldon.co.uk/high-street) to see just how much is on offer in the High Street this Christmas.

Some of the goods would be alien to our ancestors, such as the computers on sale at TDR (112a).

The title of others still give something of a nod to the olden days.

I am thinking of the Emporium. The selection is wide and extensive – it is a place where you can buy (in the main street, but also the shopping areas in Edward’s Walk, Bright’s Path and Wenlock Way) babywear, books, bikes, crystals and incense, perfume and make-up, electrical goods, fabrics, fashion, fishing tackle, flowers, shoes, garden items, homeware, jewellery, models, sports accessories and so much more.

Our High Street is clearly alive and well – an Aladdin’s cave of potential gifts just waiting for you to explore and, as we now know, that’s how it has been for centuries.

May I wish all readers of my weekly history page a very merry Christmas.