and Winstree Rural Districts) Confirmation Order 1955. Marginal changes as a result of changes to local authority boundaries. 1974–1983: The Municipal Borough of Maldon, the Urban District of Burnham-on-Crouch, and the Rural Districts of Maldon and Rochford. The Urban Districts of Braintree and Bocking, and Witham and the Rural District of Braintree formed the basis for the new County Constituency of Braintree. The Rural District of Rochford transferred from South East Essex. Constituency abolished for the 1983 general election. Southern area, comprising the former Rural District of Rochford, included in the new County Constituency of Rochford. Remainder formed the majority of the new County Constituency of South Colchester and Maldon. 2010–present: The District of Maldon wards of Althorne, Burnham-on-Crouch North, Burnham-on-Crouch South, Heybridge East, Heybridge West, Maldon East, Maldon North, Maldon South, Maldon West, Mayland, Purleigh, Southminster, and Tillingham, and the Borough of Chelmsford wards of Bicknacre and East and West Hanningfield, Little Baddow, Danbury and Sandon, Rettendon and Runwell, South Hanningfield, Stock and Margaretting, South Woodham Chetwood and Collingwood, and South Woodham Elmwood and Woodville. Following the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, Parliament radically altered some constituencies and created new ones to allow for changes in population. The majority of the former Maldon and East Chelmsford constituency formed the basis of this new seat for 2010. The constituency included Maldon and Burnham-on-Crouch, and lost the Chelmsford parts . To compensate, wards in and around South Woodham Ferrers were added from the former Rayleigh constituency, and Margaretting was added from the former West Chelmsford constituency. The historic constituency (1332–1983) Maldon was originally a Parliamentary borough in Essex, first represented in the House of Commons in 1332; it elected two MPs until 1868, and one from 1868 until 1885. In that year the borough was abolished but the name was transferred to a county division of Essex, which continued with some boundary changes until 1983. Maldon borough (1332–1885) Boundaries and franchise before the Reform Act Until the Great Reform Act of 1832, the borough consisted of the three parishes of the town of Maldon, a small market town and port on the coast of Essex. Maldon had been a municipal as well as a Parliamentary borough. Its first charter dated from the reign of Henry II, and at one time the corporation had the sole right to elect the town's MPs. From 1701 at the latest, however, the