Con Club has roots in Maldon's old communal dung heap!

Throughout the Middle Ages and into the Tudor period, it was known to have been the location of the town’s ‘midden’ (a communal dunghill or refuse heap).

Old rubbish means gold to the archaeologist and so we started stripping off the surface with eager anticipation. At first we found the brick foundation remains of what was once an old council depot, but going deeper still revealed some special clues to Maldon’s past.

For me, foremost amongst the finds of pottery and coins was a fragment of stone window mullion that looked decidedly ecclesiastical in nature.

We reckoned it could well have been part of the town’s Carmelite Friary, operating in the area of the White Horse car park and the public library from 1292 until eventual closure under the Dissolution in 1538.

The dig was soon over and then the developers moved in.

By the end of June the following year, the new building was ready to be officially opened as the Maldon Constitutional Club.

That event was, in itself, of historic interest, as it represented the latest chapter in the club’s story.

• The current club building opened in 1984

Looking through local directories, the Maldon and District Constitutional Club first appears in 1908.

TW Hayes is listed as its honorary secretary (that would have been wine merchant Thomas William Hayes) and the club was said to be located at number 52 High Street.

Nowadays 52 is divided between the Halifax Bank and the card shop, but even in 1908, while the ground floor was used as commercial premises (the post office and then a butchers and auctioneers), upstairs served a different purpose.

In 1874 it was the home of the Reform Club (for Liberals) but then, ironically, was taken over as the Constitutional Club, comprising as it did of “reading and conversation rooms, library and billiard rooms”.

Not only that, but at the back of the building were “quoits grounds, skittle alleys and pleasure grounds where garden parties (were occasionally) held”.

On the eve of the Great War, larger than life mayor Herman A Krohn was the club’s president.

Thomas Hayes (then of 11 Market Hill) was still the secretary and there was a dedicated steward, one W Tabor.

• Mayor Herman A Krohn was club president before the Great War

And so things continued in the same building into the 1950s and 60s, when my grandfather was a member and the secretaries were variously PH Stepney and G Rivers.

Then, in the summer of 1966, the club relocated to 40 White Horse Lane (now a dentist) and, as we know, it moved again in 1984 to 17 Fambridge Road.

Those purpose-built premises at number 17 include a bar, lounge, function room and, most importantly as far as I am concerned, a time-honoured snooker room. In that respect the club continues to function in certain ways as it did in 1908.

Today, however, most would say it is nowhere near as political as it was and, unlike those Edwardian days, it is not an exclusive gentleman’s club as it is open to both men and women (and actually has been for some time).

I have enjoyed playing the odd game of snooker there myself and whenever I visit the place and line up a shot, I think of those early High Street origins. I also remember my grandfather (and actually my father who was also a member).

• MP John Whittingdale cuts the ribbon at the reopening

But above all of that, I definitely reflect on happy days in the 80s when, as a 22 year old, I scrabbled around in the foundations for evidence of Maldon townsfolk from a much earlier era.

The club has undergone a major refurbishment during lockdown and was officially reopened on May 17, 2021, by MP John Whittingdale.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the club you can call in during opening hours or make an enquiry via their website.