History of Maidstone

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The History of Maidstone and its immediate area is of very long duration, beginning in Mesolithic times. ^[1]

[edit] Early history

Maidstone Museum has evidence of many prehistoric peoples inhabiting the area. In particular, Neolithic finds have been made locally, notably at Kit’s Coty and the Countless Stones. The Romans brought Maidstone greater importance; their road from Watling Street at Rochester to Hastings passed through the site, connecting with the iron industry of the Weald: two villas and a number of other sites, have been discovered nearby. They were also among the first to extract stone (the sandstone known as Kentish ragstone) from the area. A great many other finds relate to this period.

The Normans, in their turn recognised the worth of the area. by the time of Domesday Book. Heathland to the north of the town (today the suburb of Penenden Heath) was the site of shire moots or regional assemblies and the location of a key trial in the years immediately following the Norman Conquest. In 1146 the Cistercians from Clairvaux built an abbey at Boxley, to the northeast of the town; it was destroyed in 1538 ^[2].

Gatehouse of the College

In the same period there were two hospitals here built for the care of wayfarers, especially those on pilgrimage; and a “college” of secular priests. In the early Middle Ages the town was the home of the Guild of Corpus Christi. Members of the guild employed a chaplain who said prayers for their souls when they died and looked after its members in old age and in times of sickness.

Corpus Christi hall, a former trades guild hall confiscated in 1547 and used a grammar school until 1871.

The Archbishop's Palace, situated on Mill Street on the banks of the River Medway was a 14th century home to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Archbishop's Palace

[edit] 16th/17th centuries

Maidstone’s town status was confirmed when, in 1549, it was incorporated. It had originally been governed by a portreeve, 12 brethren and 24 commoners under the direction of the Archbishop of Canterbury. However, when the people of Maidstone rebelled against the crown in support of Thomas Wyatt in 1551, this charter was revoked, although a new charter was established five years later, when Maidstone was created a borough. The town’s charter was ratified in 1619 under James I, and a coat of arms was designed (see main article)

On June 18 1557 the miller of Frittenden, William Allin and his wife Katherine were burned at the stake at Fairmeadow, Maidstone, along with five other protestants. The Allins had fed the poor, sold corn at half price and read scriptures to people.^[3]

When Maidstone was incorporated it was authorised to build a grammar school, which survives to this day as Maidstone Grammar School. William Lambe, a wealthy clothmaker, endowed another school in 1574. Early in the 19th century a government inquiry found there were no fewer than 13 schools (some of very poor quality) teaching the poor of the town.

[edit] The Civil War

See also: English Civil War

On 1 Jun 1648, during the ‘’’English Civil War’’’ the Battle of Maidstone took place. About 2,000 Royalist forces were defending the town, governed by Sir Gamaliel Dudley, and his lieutenant, Sir John Mainy, and their junior-lieutenant, Sir Conor Forker, who had arranged earthworks and other defences. General Fairfax and a body of dragoons approached in the afternoon, following the Medway Valley from Farleigh Bridge, which had been only lightly guarded, and the first skirmishes took place on the outskirts of the town around 7 o'clock.

The Royalists put up a spirited resistance and managed to repulse Fairfax's pikeman. Reinforcements from the town arrived and heavy hand-to-hand fighting took place. Fairfax was astonished that his disciplined New Model Army soldiers where thrown into confusion. Fairfax himself, who had been observing the action from a carriage a short distance away, took to horse and lead his troops on a charge which, following further heavy close fighting, forced the Royalists to retreat. Fairfax pushed on, and the storming of the town began at 9 o'clock. By midnight, the remaining Royalists had been driven into the churchyard, and surrendered.

300 Royalists had died in the battle, and 1,300 captured. Between 30 and 80 of Fairfax's men were believed killed.^[4]

[edit] 18th/19th centuries

In 1799, King George III and Prime Minister William Pitt visited Mote Park in the town to inspect around 3,000 assembled troops of the Kent Volunteers, a local militia trained to defend the county from a possible invasion by Napoleon I of France. A Doric-style temple was constructed to commemorate the occasion.^[5][6]

Maidstone prison lies to the north of the town centre. Designed by Daniel Asher Alexander (the architect of Dartmoor Prison) It was completed in 1819 to replace the bridewell and old gaol in the centre of the town.^[7] Building work was carried out by French prisoners-of-war. The first inmates moved in at the end of 1818. On 28 April 1868, the last woman to be publicly hanged in Britain was Frances Kidder, a 25-year-old woman who had murdered her stepdaughter; the execution took place outside Maidstone Prison

There have been two Army barracks in Maidstone. The first was built in 1797 as a reaction to the threat of Napoleon (see above)and the barracks became the home of the West Kent Regiment. By 1813 the barracks along the Sandling Road were used to train the cavalry’s young horses and 20 years later they became the Army Riding School. It was also a staging post for the colonies and in the 1860s 600 men could be stationed here.

Kent County Council first met in Maidstone in 1889.

[edit] Two world wars

Detling, just to the North of the town and now the home of the Kent County Showground, was a Naval Air station during the First World War, and served the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Around 1939, a number of other airfields were developed near the town, including RAF West Malling and RAF Lashenden. Maidstone suffered damage from Luftwaffe bombers dumping their loads when unable to reach their primary targets. V-1 flying bombs and V-2 rockets also fell in the area. In one incident late in 1944, the town was hit by 50 small shells. These came from the South, although the nearest point on the French coast is 60 miles away.^{[citation needed]} The incident has not yet been satisfactorily explained.^{[citation needed]}

The headquarters of No 1 Group Royal Observer Corps was situated in Maidstone until the organisation was disbanded in 1995.

[edit] Economic history

The early economy of Maidstone was built around its position as a central market town to the agricultural industry of the surrounding Kent countryside. Its position on the River Medway (which was in turn fed by a series of tributaries) allowed goods to be transported in and out of the town quickly for trade. The River Len and Loose Stream provided water power to drive numerous mills that could be used for many purposes: fulling, corngrinding, papermaking etc.

The existence of trade attracted craftsmen and other artisans adding to a supporting manufacturing economy.^[8]

The quarrying of building stone around Maidstone has always been important and continues even today. Some of the sandstone is also used in the glass industry. The nearby chalk pits in Burham had been in use as long ago as the Roman occupation. In the 17th century the Wealden cloth industry reached as far north as the town; for here were deposits of Fuller's earth used for degreasing the wool and, perhaps more importantly, the means of transporting the finished products — the river.

In Maidstone there were many small breweries at the end of the 19th century, the river being useful for transport and water for the beer production. One of the biggest, the Style & Winch brewery ^[9], was on the river bank in the centre of the town. It shut in 1965 and the building was demolished in 1976. There were five other breweries; today only a small one — Goachers — remains. Parts of the former-Fremlins brewery are now incorporated in the Fremlin Walk shopping arcade.

Paper mills, known locally as “the treacle mines”, also developed near the river. Paper was produced at places such as Turkey Mill and Hayle Mill, and what was to become the Reed group had several paper and cardboard milling plants in Maidstone.