Our wild and historic saltmarsh coast has been the inspiration for a number of notable writers – and sometimes their home.

Ironically, the best of these writers will always remain nameless. 'The Battle of Maldon' poem, written some time after the battle in 991, is still regarded as one of our finest poems, and is a key part of every university course in Old English. The author is anonymous, but very likely mixed in aristocratic circles where poems of this kind would be recited.

The author was probably not an eyewitness to the battle, but would certainly have known those who were, and names key people – both heroic, like Byrhtnoth and his close followers, and the less hardy men who chose to flee.

The poem is a celebration of loyalty and courage in the face of defeat, and is authentic in its description of 10th Century battle. But it's more difficult to pinpoint details like the exact geography of the fight: the 'truth' in the poem is a universal one about the human heart.

Maldon's other literary battle is of a very different nature, and was published over a thousand years later in 1898. H.G. Wells' 'War of the Worlds' is not only one of the first Science Fiction novels (following a trail blazed by Mary Shelley and Jules Verne) but is still regarded as one of the finest.

Later in his career, H.G. Wells lived in Little Easton, but he clearly has familiarity with our coast as he describes the narrator's brother fleeing the Martian war machines, stopping at Tillingham, and witnessing the Blackwater crowded with ships and small boats rescuing refugees.

As the Martians advance from the direction of Foulness, he boards a paddle steamer. He witnesses the epic battle in the Blackwater between 'HMS Thunder Child', a Royal Navy steam ram, and three Martian tripods. The ship is destroyed, but takes two Martians with it, allowing the refugees to escape. Another example of the Maldon tradition of heroic defeats!

Rumours of a mysterious sea monster haunting the salt marshes pervade another novel, 'The Essex Serpent' by Sarah Perry. Sarah Perry was born and brought up in Chelmsford, and uses her knowledge of Maldon and the surrounding coast to good effect in this best-selling novel.

Set in Victorian times, the fear and superstition of remote rural communities is brilliantly conveyed. As many local residents witnessed for themselves, the Hythe Quay was transformed into its 19th Century counterpart for filming last year, and the release of the serialisation on Apple TV is eagerly anticipated.

A classic novel still in print also derives inspiration from the salt marshes, particularly Ray Island or The Ray, near Mersea Island. This is 'Mehalah', by Sabine Baring-Gould (and the only work in this feature which I have to admit to not yet reading).

The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould was vicar at East Mersea from 1871 to 1881, and his novel is set in the time of the Napoleonic Wars. The heroine, Mehalah and her mother live on Ray Island in a small farmhouse.

With its dark evocation of the wild landscape and its caste of passionate characters, the book has been described as 'the Wuthering Heights of Essex'. The whole text is available free online.

Other writers are associated with our area, notably crime writer Margery Allingham and poet John Betjeman (who turned up at the first Bradwell Power Station enquiry to oppose it). Naturalist J.A. Baker also wrote the remarkable 'The Peregrine', describing his pursuit of the noble Peregrine Falcon along the river banks and coastal waters of our area.