Maidstone
Encyclopedia
Maidstone is the county town
of Kent
, England
, 32 miles (51 km) south-east of London
. The River Medway
runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary
. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural county of Kent
, known as the Garden of England. There is evidence of a settlement in the area dating back to beyond the Stone Age.
The town is within the borough
of Maidstone
. In 2001, the town had a population of 75,070.
Maidstone's economy has changed over the years from being involved in heavy industry, to more light and service industries.
around which gatherings would take place. The name evolved through medestan/meddestane as reported in the Domesday Book
until, in 1610, the modern name appeared. It has also been suggested that the name derives from stones set into the river to allow clothes to be rinsed in the cleaner water away from the banks of the river.
Neolithic
finds have revealed the earliest occupation of the area; and the Romans
have left their mark also: the road through the town and evidence of villas. The Normans
set up a shire moot, and religious organisations established an abbey at Boxley
, as well as hospitals and a college for priests
. Today’s suburb of Penenden Heath
became a place of execution in medieval times.
Maidstone's charter as a town was first confirmed in 1549; although briefly revoked, a new charter in 1551 created the town as a borough. The town’s charter was ratified in 1619 under James I
, and the coat of arms, bearing a golden lion and a representation of the river, was designed (in heraldic terms
: "or, a fes wavy azure between three roundels gules, on a chief gules a leopard passant gardant or"). Recently these arms were added to by the head of a white horse (representing Invicta
, the motto of the county of Kent), a golden lion and an iguanodon
. The iguanodon relates to the local discovery in the 19th century of the fossilised remains of such a dinosaur
: The remains are now displayed in the Natural History Museum
in London.
During the Civil War
a battle
took place here in 1648, resulting in victory for the Parliamentarian
forces. Andrew Broughton
, who was Mayor of Maidstone in 1649 (and also Clerk to the High Court of Justice) was responsible for declaring the death sentence on Charles I
, and today a plaque in Maidstone Town Centre memorialises Andrew as 'Mayor and Regicide' (a killer of kings).
Maidstone has had the right to a town gaol since 1604; the present prison
lies north of the town centre and was completed in 1819. Army barracks have been a feature of the town since 1797, when the first was built. The present Invicta Barracks is home to the Royal Engineers
36 Engineer Regiment, which includes two Gurkha
field squadrons.
From an economic point of view, Maidstone’s history has developed around the river, and also the surrounding countryside. Paper mills, stone quarrying, brewing and the cloth industry have all flourished here. The paper maker James Whatman
and his son invented wove paper
(Whatman paper) at Turkey Mill from 1740, an important development in the history of printing.
The county council offices, to the north of the town centre were built of Portland stone
between 1910 and 1913. Maidstone General Hospital opened on the outskirts of the town in 1983, replacing West Kent General Hospital, which opened 150 years earlier in Marsham Street. The new Maidstone General Hospital
is located just to the north of the former Oakwood Hospital
(originally the Kent County Asylum) which closed in the mid-1990s.
Many of today's residents are employed within the retail, administrative or service sectors within the town; there are many industrial estates around the town providing employment. Some of the workforce commutes to other towns, including to London.
for Maidstone and the Weald is Conservative
Helen Grant
who replaced fellow Conservative and retiring incumbent Ann Widdecombe
in the 2010 General Election. Since 2001, the MP for Faversham and Mid Kent has been another Conservative, Hugh Robertson.
The town is within, and is the main town of, the local government district of Maidstone
, which includes the surrounding rural areas. The town is divided into the twelve local government wards of Allington, Bridge, Downswood and Otham, East, Fant, Heath, High Street, Park Wood, Shepway North, Shepway South, South, and North. These wards have thirty of the fifty-five seats on the Maidstone Borough Council. As of the 2010 Maidstone council election
, 28 of the seats on the council were held by the Conservative party, 23 by the Liberal Democrats
and 4 by independents.
Maidstone Borough Council is responsible for running local services, such as recreation, refuse collection and council housing
; while Kent County Council
is responsible for education, social services and trading standards. Both councils are involved in town planning.
The town is situated at a point where the River Medway
has previously flowed in a generally west-east direction; now, having been joined by the Rivers Teise
and Beult
, its course changes to a northerly one. As it does so, it cuts through the ridge formed by the Greensand
, so that the town occupies a site on two opposite hills; the more easterly one containing the town centre. Beyond that, and still higher, is Penenden Heath.
The River Len joined the River Medway at Maidstone; though a short river it provided the water to drive numerous watermills. The Loose Stream, that rose at Langley
and joined at Tovil
powered over 30 mills. The resultant mill ponds on these rivers, are a prominent feature of the landscape.
Because of that situation, Maidstone had an industrial base, and became a nodal point for communications, both along the ridge and beside the river, and on the river itself. Roads radiate from here, connecting with Sevenoaks
and Ashford
(the A20); the Medway towns and Hastings
(A229
); Tonbridge
(A26
) and Tenterden
(A274
). All of these roads were served by the Turnpike trusts
in the 18th/19th centuries.
The two railway routes, in spite of the fact that Maidstone is the county town, are not principal ones, due to an accident of history. There are two principal stations: Maidstone East
, the more northerly of the two, connects with London and Ashford; whilst Maidstone West
is on the Medway Valley Line
.
Although the River Medway was historically responsible for the growth of the town, because of its capability to carry much of the area's goods, it is no longer a commercial stream. There is however a great deal of tourist traffic upon it.
As with most towns, Maidstone has continued to grow. In doing so it has incorporated hitherto separate settlements, villages and hamlets within its boundaries. These include Allington
, Barming
, Bearsted
, Penenden Heath
, Sandling
, Tovil
and Weavering Street. Housing estates include Grove Green
, Harbourland, Ringlestone
, Roseacre, Shepway and Vinters Park.
Maidstone was at one time a centre of industry: brewing and paper making being among the most important. Nowadays smaller industrial units encircle the town. The site of one of the breweries is now Fremlin Walk
shopping centre. The pedestrianised areas of the High Street and King Street run up from the river crossing at Lockmeadow; Week Street and Gabriel’s Hill bisect this route.
, Kent experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. The nearest official Met Office
weather station
for which online records are available is at nearby East Malling, about 3 miles west of Maidstone town centre.
East Malling's highest temperature of 37.4 °C (99.3 °F) was recorded in August 2003. East Malling also holds the record for the mildest January day in South East England, 17.4 °C (63.3 °F), also set in 2003. The lowest temperature recorded in recent years was -10.7 C on the 20th December 2010.
As of the 2001 UK census
, Maidstone town wards had a total population of 75,070, and a population density of 28 residents per hectare
. The town had 31,142 households; of which, 38% were married couples, 29% were individuals, 10% were cohabiting
couples, and 9% were lone parent families. 14% of households had someone living alone at pension
able age.
The ethnicity
of the town was given as 96.6% white, 0.9% mixed race
, 0.3% Chinese, 1.5% other Asian, 0.4% Black and 0.3% other.
The place of birth of the town's residents was 94.1% United Kingdom (91.4% England), 0.6% Republic of Ireland, 0.6% Germany, 1.3% other European countries, 1.7% Asia, 0.9% Africa and 0.8% elsewhere.
Religion was recorded as 73.9% Christian, 0.8% Muslim, 0.7% Hindu, 0.3% Buddhist, 0.14% Sikh and 0.11% Jewish. 15.8% were recorded as having no religion, 0.6% had an alternative religion, and 7.7% did not state their religion.
(on the northwest side of Maidstone) has the largest paper recycling factory in Europe, manufacturing newsprint
for the newspaper industry.
Until 1998, the Sharps toffee factory (later part of Cadbury Trebor Basset), was in central Maidstone and provided a significant source of employment.
Loudspeaker manufacturer KEF
was founded in 1961 in Maidstone on the premises of a metal working operation called Kent Engineering & Foundry (hence KEF). Today, KEF still occupies the same river-bank site. In the late 1990s KEF manufactured a loudspeaker called “the Maidstone”.
The town centre has the largest office centre in the county and the area is a base for the paper and packaging industry. Many high-technology firms have set up on surrounding business parks.
Southern Water and Mid Kent Water operate the Maidstone water system.
and the 32500 square metres (349,827.1 sq ft) Fremlin Walk
which opened in 2006.
Other recent developments include the riverside Lockmeadow Centre, which includes a multiplex cinema
, restaurants, nightclubs, bowling alley, and the town's market square. The leisure industry is a key contributor to the town's with the night-time economy worth £75m per annum.
Employment, by industry, was 19% retail; 13% real estate; 11% manufacturing; 9% construction; 7% transport and communication
s; 10% health and social work
; 8% public administration
; 7% education; 5% finance; 4% hotels and restaurants; 1% agriculture; 1% energy and water supply; and 5% other. Compared to national figures, Maidstone had a relatively high percentage of workers in construction and public administration, and a relatively low percentage in agriculture.
According to the Office for National Statistics
estimates, the average gross income of households in Maidstone between April 2001 and March 2002 was £595 per week (£31,000 per year).
36 Engineer Regiment, which includes two Gurkha
field squadrons.
On 29 September 1975 a local pub serving the barracks - The Hare and Hounds - was damaged by a bomb during the IRA
campaign against the English mainland. Another pub - The White Rabbit - now occupies the former Officers’ Mess of the original barracks, now a listed building.
One of the first roads in Kent to be turnpiked
was that from Rochester to Maidstone, in 1728, giving some indication of the town’s importance. The A20 runs through the town and the M20 motorway
runs to the north. Originally opened in 1960 as the Maidstone Bypass, A20(M) this was the first motorway standard road to be constructed south of London.
Maidstone is a hub for major roads such as the M20 motorway
, the A229
, A249
, A20 and A26
. The M2 motorway is also a short distance to the north and the A21 is not too far away. The historic centre of the town is largely pedestrianised or of restricted access to private vehicles.
The River Medway
had, until the coming of better roads and the railways, long been one of the principal means of transporting goods to and from Maidstone. Improvements had been made in about 1730 to the River Medway, so that barges of 40 tons could get upriver to East Farleigh
, Yalding
and even Tonbridge
. This meant that a good deal of trade, including corn, hops, fodder, fruit, stone and timber passed through the town, where there were several wharfs.
The medieval stone bridge was replaced in 1879 to give better clearance: it was designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette
. A second bridge, St. Peter's Bridge, was built in 1977.
Today the river is of importance mainly to pleasure-boat owners and the considerable number of people living on houseboats. For many years there has been a river festival during the last weekend in July, and a millennium project inaugurated the Medway River Walk, the Medway Park and a new footbridge linking the former cattle market (which is now a multiplex cinema and nightclub) west of the river to the shopping area to the east.
Bus transport in Maidstone is provided by Arriva Southern Counties
and Nu-Venture
transport companies. Bus services are centred on High Street, King Street and the Chequers Bus Station adjacent to the Mall
shopping centre. Weekday commuter coach services 781 and 784 between Maidstone and London
are operated by Chalkwell Coaches of Sittingbourne.
In 2004 the centenary of Maidstone Corporation Transport
was marked with several events, looking back at several historic operators of transport in Maidstone, and featuring a preserved trolleybus
from the former Maidstone trolleybus system
.
Former bus operators in Maidstone include: Maidstone & District Motor Services Ltd
(M&D); Maidstone Borough Council Transport, later Boro'line Maidstone
; and Bygone Buses
.
When the railways were built in the 1840s, Maidstone was not well served. It was reported at the time that inhabitants were bitterly opposed to the railway: the mayor suggesting that “Maidstone will be ruined as a commercial town”. It was said that wharfingers and corn and coal merchants would be hardest hit.
In the event, in 1842, the South Eastern Railway
, in its haste to reach the Channel ports of Folkestone and Dover
, put its main line through Tonbridge and Ashford, some 6 miles (9.7 km) to the south. A station named Maidstone Road was built in an isolated spot called Paddock Wood
, from where coaches were run to the county town.
Two years later a branch line was built to Maidstone. In 1846 another branch line (the Medway Valley Line
) connected Strood
with the town. It was not until 1874 that the line from London arrived; and another ten years before Ashford was connected by rail. There are three stations: Maidstone West
and Maidstone Barracks
on the Medway Valley Line (whose platforms are visible one from the other); and Maidstone East
on the Ashford line.
In 1905, a railway was authorised under the 1896 Light Railways Act to link Maidstone with Sutton Valence
and Headcorn
, linking with the Kent & East Sussex Railway. The only part of the Headcorn & Maidstone Junction Light Railway ever built was a short branch serving the paper mills at Tovil.
Two long-distance footpaths are easily accessible from Maidstone. The Medway Valley Walk
between Tonbridge and Gillingham passes through the town, following the banks of the river. The North Downs Way
, which incorporates the Pilgrims' Way
to Canterbury
, runs for 153 miles (246.2 km) between Farnham
, Surrey
and Dover, passing about five miles (8 km) to the north and west.
The town of Maidstone has fifteen secondary schools; twenty-three primary schools; and two special schools. Two of the secondary schools, Maplesden Noakes
and Invicta Grammar School
, have been awarded Business and Enterprise College
status.
Alumni at Maidstone Grammar School
include James Burke
, television presenter, and Lord Beeching, responsible for cutting British railway routes. William Golding
, author of Lord of the Flies
was a teacher there. Also in Maidstone is a regional campus of the University for the Creative Arts (formerly Kent Institute of Art & Design
) at which the British artist Tracey Emin
, and the Graphic designers Toby Dison, Tony Rolfe, Andy Wall and Hassain Rauf began their artistic educations.
Maidstone Grammar School for Girls
is also situated in the town.
Maidstone has two independently/non-government funded Academies. Cornwallis Academy (formerly The Cornwallis School) and New Line Learning
Academy's (formerly Oldborough Manor School and Senacre Technology College) which were all State Schools. The New Line Learning Academies will soon form one Academy, the Senacre School has been knocked down and housing built on the site, and all activities have moved to the Oldborough site, which will then be re-built. Cornwallis Academy will also be re-built, at a cost estimated to be over £62M.
Shaun Williamson
, TV actor, attended the local Catholic Seconday School, St. Simon Stock School
. The school serves Catholic families throughout the whole of mid-Kent.
As of the 2001 census, 15.7% of the town's residents aged 16–74 had a higher education
qualification or the equivalent, below the national average of 19.9%. 27.5% had no academic qualifications, compared to the national figure of 28.9%.
There are a number of churches and other religious congregational buildings within the town of varying denominations.
See List of churches in Kent
All Saints Church
in the centre of Maidstone was the collegiate church
of the College of All Saints
built in 1395 next to the Archbishop's Palace
. It is a landmark building within the town and is notable for being one of the largest and widest Parish Churches in England. It contains a monument to Sir Jacob Astley
, the Royalist Civil War soldier and a memorial to Lawrence Washington, great-uncle of George Washington
's great-great-grandfather that includes the stars and stripes
in the family coat of arms
KMFM Maidstone
, formerly CTR 105.6, is the local commercial station for the town - having once broadcast from studios in Mill Street, it now broadcasts from the studios of sister station KMFM Medway
. It is part of the KM Group
who acquired the station in October 2006.
A new version of former pirate radio station Radio Caroline
, broadcasts (via Sky
and the internet) from The Maidstone Studios
, in the Vinters Park area of the town.
The town is home to the Maidstone Studios, an independent television production base that was once home to the former ITV company TVS
in Vinters Park.
Theatres in Maidstone include: The Hazlitt Theatre
; RiverStage; The Exchange Studio (previously known as ‘‘The Corn Exchange’’); and the Hermitage Millennium Amphitheatre.
novel, Moonraker
. Specifically the villain Hugo Drax passes through King Street and Gabriels Hill and later stops at the Thomas Wyatt Hotel.
tradition of naming craters on Mars
after small towns, the Maidstone crater was added to the list of Martian geographical features in 1976.
Maidstone United
football team was formed in 1897, and has had mixed fortunes in recent years. The peak of the club's achievement was gaining promotion to the Football League
in 1989 after many years of success in non-league football
. However, the club could not bring their own London Road Ground up to Football League standards so they ground-shared at Dartford's Watling Street stadium and played their games there. The club could not keep up with the financial pressures of the Football League and folded in 1992. A new club was formed and made its way from the Kent County League
Division 4 to the Isthmian (Ryman) Premier Division, and currently compete in the Ryman Division One South. The club play at Sittingbourne F.C.
's Bourne Park stadium. However, the club, recently under new ownership, look forward to moving in to their new ground at James Whatman Way
in 2012. Construction on the stadium started in September 2011.
Maidstone Hockey Club is one of the oldest field hockey
clubs in the country, founded in 1878. For the 2011/12 season, the Ladies' 1st XI play in the National League East Conference, having won the East Premier League the previous season, and the Men's 1st XI play in the South Hockey League 1st XI Premier League Division 2. The Men's and Women's 1st squad were both represented in the Indoor England Hockey League Division 2 England Hockey League, with the Men having previously won the Division 2 title in 2008/09. In total, the club has 7 men's sides and 4 women's sides playing at all levels of National, regional, and County leagues.
Maidstone Rugby Football Club is one of the oldest rugby
clubs in the country, founded in 1880. The club runs 6 senior men's sides and a junior section.
Kent County Cricket Club
played occasional matches on pitches at Mote Park
for some 150 years until 2005. Mote Park is the town's largest park and includes a number of recreational and sport facilities. The Lashings World XI
exhibition cricket
team is based in Maidstone and has included a number of high-profile professional cricketers.
Maidstone Sailing Club are a small club that sail on Mote Park lake. Maidstone also has a rowing
club, a martial arts
school, a tennis
club, an athletics club, an American football
team, and a basketball
club.
A baseball
team, the Kent Mariners, are also based in the town. They play in the BBF
AA South division.
County town
A county town is a county's administrative centre in the United Kingdom or Ireland. County towns are usually the location of administrative or judicial functions, or established over time as the de facto main town of a county. The concept of a county town eventually became detached from its...
of Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, 32 miles (51 km) south-east of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The River Medway
River Medway
The River Medway, which is almost entirely in Kent, England, flows for from just inside the West Sussex border to the point where it enters the Thames Estuary....
runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary
Thames Estuary
The Thames Mouth is the estuary in which the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea.It is not easy to define the limits of the estuary, although physically the head of Sea Reach, near Canvey Island on the Essex shore is probably the western boundary...
. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural county of Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, known as the Garden of England. There is evidence of a settlement in the area dating back to beyond the Stone Age.
The town is within the borough
Borough status in the United Kingdom
Borough status in the United Kingdom is granted by royal charter to local government districts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The status is purely honorary, and does not give any additional powers to the council or inhabitants of the district...
of Maidstone
Maidstone (borough)
Maidstone is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England. Its administrative centre is Maidstone which is also the County town of Kent...
. In 2001, the town had a population of 75,070.
Maidstone's economy has changed over the years from being involved in heavy industry, to more light and service industries.
Toponymy
Saxon charters (c975) show the first recorded instances of the town's name; de maeides stana and maegdan stane with the possible meaning of either stone of the maidens, or possibly stone of the people. The latter meaning may refer to the nearby megalithKit's Coty
Kit's Coty is a small village on the slopes of Blue Bell Hill between Maidstone and Rochester in the English county of Kent.It is named after the nearby Neolithic chamber tomb of Kit's Coty House and overlooks the valley of the River Medway. The A229 road runs next to the village....
around which gatherings would take place. The name evolved through medestan/meddestane as reported in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
until, in 1610, the modern name appeared. It has also been suggested that the name derives from stones set into the river to allow clothes to be rinsed in the cleaner water away from the banks of the river.
History
Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
finds have revealed the earliest occupation of the area; and the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
have left their mark also: the road through the town and evidence of villas. The Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
set up a shire moot, and religious organisations established an abbey at Boxley
Boxley
The large village and civil parish of Boxley in the Maidstone District of Kent, England lies below the slope of the North Downs, four miles NE of Maidstone town...
, as well as hospitals and a college for priests
College of All Saints, Maidstone
The College of All Saints was an ecclesiastical college in Maidstone, Kent founded in 1395 by Archbishop Courtenay. It was part of the establishment of the nearby Archbishop's Palace, but was closed in 1546. The College church was the neighbouring Church of All Saints...
. Today’s suburb of Penenden Heath
Penenden Heath
Penenden Heath is a suburb in the town of Maidstone in Kent, England.As the name suggests it is nucleated around a former heath .-History:...
became a place of execution in medieval times.
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
, and the coat of arms, bearing a golden lion and a representation of the river, was designed (in heraldic terms
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
: "or, a fes wavy azure between three roundels gules, on a chief gules a leopard passant gardant or"). Recently these arms were added to by the head of a white horse (representing Invicta
Invicta (motto)
Invicta was used in Roma invicta meaning "Unconquered Rome" and is the motto of the county of Kent, England.-Theories of origin:...
, the motto of the county of Kent), a golden lion and an iguanodon
Iguanodon
Iguanodon is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur that lived roughly halfway between the first of the swift bipedal hypsilophodontids and the ornithopods' culmination in the duck-billed dinosaurs...
. The iguanodon relates to the local discovery in the 19th century of the fossilised remains of such a dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
: The remains are now displayed in the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
in London.
During the Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
a battle
Battle of Maidstone
The Battle of Maidstone was fought in the Second English Civil War and was a victory for the attacking parliamentarian troops over the defending Royalist forces.- Background :...
took place here in 1648, resulting in victory for the Parliamentarian
Roundhead
"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
forces. Andrew Broughton
Andrew Broughton
Andrew Broughton was Clerk of the Court at the High Court of Justice for the trial King Charles I of England.There are not many records of his early life. He was probably born in Seaton, Rutland as the younger son of Richard Broughton...
, who was Mayor of Maidstone in 1649 (and also Clerk to the High Court of Justice) was responsible for declaring the death sentence on Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
, and today a plaque in Maidstone Town Centre memorialises Andrew as 'Mayor and Regicide' (a killer of kings).
Maidstone has had the right to a town gaol since 1604; the present prison
Maidstone (HM Prison)
HM Prison Maidstone is a Category C men's prison, located in Maidstone, Kent, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.-History:...
lies north of the town centre and was completed in 1819. Army barracks have been a feature of the town since 1797, when the first was built. The present Invicta Barracks is home to the Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
36 Engineer Regiment, which includes two Gurkha
Gurkha
Gurkha are people from Nepal who take their name from the Gorkha District. Gurkhas are best known for their history in the Indian Army's Gorkha regiments, the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas and the Nepalese Army. Gurkha units are closely associated with the kukri, a forward-curving Nepalese knife...
field squadrons.
From an economic point of view, Maidstone’s history has developed around the river, and also the surrounding countryside. Paper mills, stone quarrying, brewing and the cloth industry have all flourished here. The paper maker James Whatman
James Whatman (papermaker)
James Whatman , the Elder, was a paper maker, born in Kent, who made revolutionary advances to the craft in England. He is noted as the inventor of wove paper , an innovation used for high quality art and printing...
and his son invented wove paper
Wove paper
Wove paper is a writing paper with a uniform surface, not ribbed or watermarked.The papermaking mould's wires run parallel to each other to produce laid paper, but they are woven together into a fine wire mesh for wove paper...
(Whatman paper) at Turkey Mill from 1740, an important development in the history of printing.
Modern history
The modern town of Maidstone incorporates a number of previously outlying villages and settlements (see Geography below).The county council offices, to the north of the town centre were built of Portland stone
Portland stone
Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries consist of beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building stone throughout the British Isles, notably in major...
between 1910 and 1913. Maidstone General Hospital opened on the outskirts of the town in 1983, replacing West Kent General Hospital, which opened 150 years earlier in Marsham Street. The new Maidstone General Hospital
Maidstone Hospital
Maidstone Hospital is a hospital in Barming, Maidstone, England. It is managed by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust.-History:...
is located just to the north of the former Oakwood Hospital
Oakwood Hospital
Oakwood Hospital in Barming Heath near Maidstone, England was a psychiatric hospital founded in 1833 as the Kent County Lunatic Asylum to an Early Corridor design by the Surveyor to the County of Kent, John Whichcord Snr...
(originally the Kent County Asylum) which closed in the mid-1990s.
Many of today's residents are employed within the retail, administrative or service sectors within the town; there are many industrial estates around the town providing employment. Some of the workforce commutes to other towns, including to London.
Governance
Previously covered by the single county constituency of Maidstone (once held by Benjamin Disraeli) until 1997 when boundary changes led to its break-up, the town is now divided between the constituencies of Maidstone and the Weald and Faversham and Mid Kent. The current Member of ParliamentMember of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Maidstone and the Weald is Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Helen Grant
Helen Grant (politician)
Helen Grant is a British lawyer and Conservative Party politician. She is the current Member of Parliament for Maidstone and The Weald in Kent. She was elected at the 2010 general election, replacing the constituency's previous incumbent, Ann Widdecombe, who had decided to step down as an MP...
who replaced fellow Conservative and retiring incumbent Ann Widdecombe
Ann Widdecombe
Ann Noreen Widdecombe is a former British Conservative Party politician and has been a novelist since 2000. She is a Privy Councillor and was the Member of Parliament for Maidstone from 1987 to 1997 and for Maidstone and The Weald from 1997 to 2010. She was a social conservative and a member of...
in the 2010 General Election. Since 2001, the MP for Faversham and Mid Kent has been another Conservative, Hugh Robertson.
The town is within, and is the main town of, the local government district of Maidstone
Maidstone (borough)
Maidstone is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England. Its administrative centre is Maidstone which is also the County town of Kent...
, which includes the surrounding rural areas. The town is divided into the twelve local government wards of Allington, Bridge, Downswood and Otham, East, Fant, Heath, High Street, Park Wood, Shepway North, Shepway South, South, and North. These wards have thirty of the fifty-five seats on the Maidstone Borough Council. As of the 2010 Maidstone council election
Maidstone Council election, 2010
The 2010 Maidstone Council election took place on 6 May 2010 to elect members of Maidstone Borough Council in Kent, England. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party stayed in overall control of the council....
, 28 of the seats on the council were held by the Conservative party, 23 by the Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
and 4 by independents.
Maidstone Borough Council is responsible for running local services, such as recreation, refuse collection and council housing
Council house
A council house, otherwise known as a local authority house, is a form of public or social housing. The term is used primarily in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Council houses were built and operated by local councils to supply uncrowded, well-built homes on secure tenancies at...
; while Kent County Council
Kent County Council
Kent County Council is the county council that governs the majority of the county of Kent in England. It provides the upper tier of local government, below which are 12 district councils, and around 300 town and parish councils. The county council has 84 elected councillors...
is responsible for education, social services and trading standards. Both councils are involved in town planning.
Geography
River Medway
The River Medway, which is almost entirely in Kent, England, flows for from just inside the West Sussex border to the point where it enters the Thames Estuary....
has previously flowed in a generally west-east direction; now, having been joined by the Rivers Teise
River Teise
The River Teise is a tributary of the River Medway in Kent, England. It begins in Dunorlan Park in Tunbridge Wells. and flows eastwards past Bayham Abbey and then through Lamberhurst...
and Beult
River Beult
The River Beult is a tributary of the River Medway. It has several sources west of Ashford, including one at Woodchurch. It then flows through Headcorn. At Hunton, above Yalding it is joined by the major stream of the River Teise. Town bridge lies 10¼ miles from Allington, it is the longest...
, its course changes to a northerly one. As it does so, it cuts through the ridge formed by the Greensand
Greensand
Greensand or Green sand is either a sand or sandstone, which has a greenish color. This term is specifically applied to shallow marine sediment, that contains noticeable quantities of rounded greenish grains. These grains are called glauconies and consist of a mixture of mixed-layer clay...
, so that the town occupies a site on two opposite hills; the more easterly one containing the town centre. Beyond that, and still higher, is Penenden Heath.
The River Len joined the River Medway at Maidstone; though a short river it provided the water to drive numerous watermills. The Loose Stream, that rose at Langley
Langley, Kent
Langley is a village and civil parish in the Maidstone District of Kent, England. The parish is located on the A274 road leading south from Maidstone to Headcorn .-History:...
and joined at Tovil
Tovil
Tovil is a civil parish in the Borough of Maidstone, in Kent in the South East of England.It is a mixture of residential and industrial zoning, with an increase in commercial usage towards the centre of Maidstone, and more arable use on the outskirts....
powered over 30 mills. The resultant mill ponds on these rivers, are a prominent feature of the landscape.
Because of that situation, Maidstone had an industrial base, and became a nodal point for communications, both along the ridge and beside the river, and on the river itself. Roads radiate from here, connecting with Sevenoaks
Sevenoaks
Sevenoaks is a commuter town situated on the London fringe of west Kent, England, some 20 miles south-east of Charing Cross, on one of the principal commuter rail lines from the capital...
and Ashford
Ashford, Kent
Ashford is a town in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. In 2005 it was voted the fourth best place to live in the United Kingdom. It lies on the Great Stour river, the M20 motorway, and the South Eastern Main Line and High Speed 1 railways. Its agricultural market is one of the most...
(the A20); the Medway towns and Hastings
Hastings
Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
(A229
A229 road
The A229 is a major road running north-south through Kent.The road begins in the Medway town of Rochester at the foot of Star Hill forming a junction with the A2 road. It then climbs up through the built-up area of Chatham, passing Troy Town and Rochester Airport before descending the slope of the...
); Tonbridge
Tonbridge
Tonbridge is a market town in the English county of Kent, with a population of 30,340 in 2007. It is located on the River Medway, approximately 4 miles north of Tunbridge Wells, 12 miles south west of Maidstone and 29 miles south east of London...
(A26
A26 road
For the road in Northern Ireland see A26 road The A26 road is one of the three cross-country two-digit numbered roads in the southeast of England, the others being the A25 road and A27 road. It carries traffic from Maidstone in Kent in a generally south-westerly direction to Tunbridge Wells and...
) and Tenterden
Tenterden
Tenterden is a Cinque Port town in the Ashford District of Kent, England. It stands on the edge of the Weald, overlooking the valley of the River Rother....
(A274
A274 road
The A274 is a major road running through mid Kent. The northern end of the road is in Maidstone, at the Wheatsheaf public house where it leaves the A229...
). All of these roads were served by the Turnpike trusts
Toll road
A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
in the 18th/19th centuries.
The two railway routes, in spite of the fact that Maidstone is the county town, are not principal ones, due to an accident of history. There are two principal stations: Maidstone East
Maidstone East railway station
Maidstone East railway station is one of three stations in the central area of Maidstone, Kent, but currently the only one with a regular direct service to London. The station is on the Maidstone East Line, south-east of London Victoria , and is served by trains operated by...
, the more northerly of the two, connects with London and Ashford; whilst Maidstone West
Maidstone West railway station
Maidstone West railway station is one of three railway stations which serve the Town Centre of Maidstone, the County Town of Kent.It lies approximately halfway along the Medway Valley Line from Paddock Wood; from Strood) and train services are provided by Southeastern.- History :Due largely to...
is on the Medway Valley Line
Medway Valley Line
The Medway Valley Line is the name given to the railway line linking and the Medway Towns with and onward to , and London St Pancras International...
.
Although the River Medway was historically responsible for the growth of the town, because of its capability to carry much of the area's goods, it is no longer a commercial stream. There is however a great deal of tourist traffic upon it.
As with most towns, Maidstone has continued to grow. In doing so it has incorporated hitherto separate settlements, villages and hamlets within its boundaries. These include Allington
Allington, Kent
Allington is an almost entirely modern village situated alongside the sides of the A20 road west of Maidstone in Kent. It is part of the built-up area of Maidstone. It has 2 primary schools; Allington Primary and Palace Wood...
, Barming
Barming
Barming is a civil parish in the Maidstone District of Kent, England. It lies to the west of Maidstone, the county town, and had a population of 2234 persons . The eastern end of the parish is part of the built-up area of Maidstone, although the remainder is much more rural...
, Bearsted
Bearsted
Bearsted is an ancient village and civil parish in mid-Kent, three miles to the east of Maidstone. The original village site was on the north bank of the River Len, a tributary of the River Medway, and at the foot of the North Downs....
, Penenden Heath
Penenden Heath
Penenden Heath is a suburb in the town of Maidstone in Kent, England.As the name suggests it is nucleated around a former heath .-History:...
, Sandling
Sandling, Maidstone
Sandling is a suburb to the north of the town of Maidstone, Kent, England. Within the area is the headquarters of the Kent Wildlife Trust at Tyland Barn. Beside the River Medway is an eating place called The Malta Inn. Sandling is also home to the Museum of Kent Life...
, Tovil
Tovil
Tovil is a civil parish in the Borough of Maidstone, in Kent in the South East of England.It is a mixture of residential and industrial zoning, with an increase in commercial usage towards the centre of Maidstone, and more arable use on the outskirts....
and Weavering Street. Housing estates include Grove Green
Grove Green
Grove Green is a suburban housing development, partially forming a part of Weavering village, near the town of Maidstone in Kent, England. The estate is also near the village of Bearsted and is convenient for the M20 motorway making its homes keenly sought after by London commuters...
, Harbourland, Ringlestone
Ringlestone (suburb)
Ringlestone is a suburb and housing estate in the town of Maidstone, Kent. It is on the Eastern side of the River Medway, near Allington....
, Roseacre, Shepway and Vinters Park.
Maidstone was at one time a centre of industry: brewing and paper making being among the most important. Nowadays smaller industrial units encircle the town. The site of one of the breweries is now Fremlin Walk
Fremlin Walk
Fremlin Walk is a shopping centre in the town of Maidstone in Kent. it opened in 2005 after several years of development by Centros Miller to include of shopping and an 800 space car park.- History :...
shopping centre. The pedestrianised areas of the High Street and King Street run up from the river crossing at Lockmeadow; Week Street and Gabriel’s Hill bisect this route.
Climate
As with the rest of the British IslesBritish Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
, Kent experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. The nearest official Met Office
Met Office
The Met Office , is the United Kingdom's national weather service, and a trading fund of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills...
weather station
Weather station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind...
for which online records are available is at nearby East Malling, about 3 miles west of Maidstone town centre.
East Malling's highest temperature of 37.4 °C (99.3 °F) was recorded in August 2003. East Malling also holds the record for the mildest January day in South East England, 17.4 °C (63.3 °F), also set in 2003. The lowest temperature recorded in recent years was -10.7 C on the 20th December 2010.
Demography
| Maidstone | Maidstone district | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 75,070 | 138,948 | 49,138,831 |
| Foreign born | 5.9% | 5.2% | 9.2% |
| White | 97% | 97% | 91% |
| Asian | 1.5% | 1.1% | 4.6% |
| Black | 0.4% | 0.2% | 2.3% |
| Christian | 74% | 76% | 72% |
| Muslim | 0.8% | 0.5% | 3.1% |
| Hindu | 0.7% | 0.5% | 1.1% |
| Source: 2001 UK census United Kingdom Census 2001 A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194.... |
|||
As of the 2001 UK census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
, Maidstone town wards had a total population of 75,070, and a population density of 28 residents per hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
. The town had 31,142 households; of which, 38% were married couples, 29% were individuals, 10% were cohabiting
Cohabitation
Cohabitation usually refers to an arrangement whereby two people decide to live together on a long-term or permanent basis in an emotionally and/or sexually intimate relationship. The term is most frequently applied to couples who are not married...
couples, and 9% were lone parent families. 14% of households had someone living alone at pension
Pension
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
able age.
The ethnicity
Ethnic groups of the United Kingdom
People from various ethnic groups reside in the United Kingdom. Migration from what are now the Northern European states has been happening for millennia, with other groups such as British Jews also well established...
of the town was given as 96.6% white, 0.9% mixed race
Multiracial
The terms multiracial and mixed-race describe people whose ancestries come from multiple races. Unlike the term biracial, which often is only used to refer to having parents or grandparents of two different races, the term multiracial may encompass biracial people but can also include people with...
, 0.3% Chinese, 1.5% other Asian, 0.4% Black and 0.3% other.
The place of birth of the town's residents was 94.1% United Kingdom (91.4% England), 0.6% Republic of Ireland, 0.6% Germany, 1.3% other European countries, 1.7% Asia, 0.9% Africa and 0.8% elsewhere.
Religion was recorded as 73.9% Christian, 0.8% Muslim, 0.7% Hindu, 0.3% Buddhist, 0.14% Sikh and 0.11% Jewish. 15.8% were recorded as having no religion, 0.6% had an alternative religion, and 7.7% did not state their religion.
Economy
Industry
Today AylesfordAylesford
Aylesford is a village and civil parish on the River Medway in Kent, 4 miles NW of Maidstone in England.Originally a small riverside settlement, the old village comprises around 60 houses, many of which were formerly shops. One pub, a Post Office and four small independent shops remain...
(on the northwest side of Maidstone) has the largest paper recycling factory in Europe, manufacturing newsprint
Newsprint
Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper most commonly used to print newspapers, and other publications and advertising material. It usually has an off-white cast and distinctive feel. It is designed for use in printing presses that employ a long web of paper rather than individual sheets of...
for the newspaper industry.
Until 1998, the Sharps toffee factory (later part of Cadbury Trebor Basset), was in central Maidstone and provided a significant source of employment.
Loudspeaker manufacturer KEF
KEF
KEF is a British-based loudspeaker manufacturer with international distribution.It was founded in Tovil, Maidstone, Kent in 1961 by electrical engineer Raymond Cooke and named after Kent Engineering & Foundry which previously occupied the site....
was founded in 1961 in Maidstone on the premises of a metal working operation called Kent Engineering & Foundry (hence KEF). Today, KEF still occupies the same river-bank site. In the late 1990s KEF manufactured a loudspeaker called “the Maidstone”.
The town centre has the largest office centre in the county and the area is a base for the paper and packaging industry. Many high-technology firms have set up on surrounding business parks.
Southern Water and Mid Kent Water operate the Maidstone water system.
Shopping/Retail
The town is ranked in the top five shopping centres in the south east of England for shopping yields and with more than one million square feet of retail floor space, in the top 50 in the UK. Much of this space is provided the two main shopping centres in the town, the 535000 square feet (49,703.1 m²) The Mall MaidstoneThe Mall Maidstone
The Mall Maidstone is a covered shopping centre in Maidstone, the county town of Kent. Together with the Fremlin Walk shopping centre, which is uncovered, it is one of the two primary shopping venues within the town centre....
and the 32500 square metres (349,827.1 sq ft) Fremlin Walk
Fremlin Walk
Fremlin Walk is a shopping centre in the town of Maidstone in Kent. it opened in 2005 after several years of development by Centros Miller to include of shopping and an 800 space car park.- History :...
which opened in 2006.
Other recent developments include the riverside Lockmeadow Centre, which includes a multiplex cinema
Multiplex (movie theater)
A multiplex is a movie theater complex with multiple screens, typically three or more. They are usually housed in a specially designed building. Sometimes, an existing venue undergoes a renovation where the existing auditoriums are split into smaller ones, or more auditoriums are added in an...
, restaurants, nightclubs, bowling alley, and the town's market square. The leisure industry is a key contributor to the town's with the night-time economy worth £75m per annum.
Employment
As of the 2001 UK census, 45.2% of the town's residents aged 16–74 were employed full-time, 12.7% employed part-time, 7.6% self-employed and 2.5% unemployed, while 2.3% were students with jobs, 3.0% students without jobs, 12.9% retired, 6.6% looking after home or family, 3.8% permanently sick or disabled and 3.2% economically inactive for other reasons. These figures were roughly inline with the national average.Employment, by industry, was 19% retail; 13% real estate; 11% manufacturing; 9% construction; 7% transport and communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
s; 10% health and social work
Social work
Social Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...
; 8% public administration
Public administration
Public Administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal.....
; 7% education; 5% finance; 4% hotels and restaurants; 1% agriculture; 1% energy and water supply; and 5% other. Compared to national figures, Maidstone had a relatively high percentage of workers in construction and public administration, and a relatively low percentage in agriculture.
According to the Office for National Statistics
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.- Overview :...
estimates, the average gross income of households in Maidstone between April 2001 and March 2002 was £595 per week (£31,000 per year).
Army barracks
Army barracks have been a feature of the town since 1797, when the first was built. The present Invicta Barracks is home to the Royal EngineersRoyal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
36 Engineer Regiment, which includes two Gurkha
Gurkha
Gurkha are people from Nepal who take their name from the Gorkha District. Gurkhas are best known for their history in the Indian Army's Gorkha regiments, the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas and the Nepalese Army. Gurkha units are closely associated with the kukri, a forward-curving Nepalese knife...
field squadrons.
On 29 September 1975 a local pub serving the barracks - The Hare and Hounds - was damaged by a bomb during the IRA
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
campaign against the English mainland. Another pub - The White Rabbit - now occupies the former Officers’ Mess of the original barracks, now a listed building.
Transport and communications
Toll road
A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
was that from Rochester to Maidstone, in 1728, giving some indication of the town’s importance. The A20 runs through the town and the M20 motorway
M20 motorway
The M20 is a motorway in Kent, England. It runs from the M25 motorway to Folkestone, providing a link to the Channel Tunnel and the ports at Dover. It is long...
runs to the north. Originally opened in 1960 as the Maidstone Bypass, A20(M) this was the first motorway standard road to be constructed south of London.
Maidstone is a hub for major roads such as the M20 motorway
M20 motorway
The M20 is a motorway in Kent, England. It runs from the M25 motorway to Folkestone, providing a link to the Channel Tunnel and the ports at Dover. It is long...
, the A229
A229 road
The A229 is a major road running north-south through Kent.The road begins in the Medway town of Rochester at the foot of Star Hill forming a junction with the A2 road. It then climbs up through the built-up area of Chatham, passing Troy Town and Rochester Airport before descending the slope of the...
, A249
A249 road
The A249 is a road in Kent, England, running from Maidstone to Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey. It mainly functions as a link between the M2 and M20 motorways, and for goods vehicle traffic to the port at Sheerness....
, A20 and A26
A26 road
For the road in Northern Ireland see A26 road The A26 road is one of the three cross-country two-digit numbered roads in the southeast of England, the others being the A25 road and A27 road. It carries traffic from Maidstone in Kent in a generally south-westerly direction to Tunbridge Wells and...
. The M2 motorway is also a short distance to the north and the A21 is not too far away. The historic centre of the town is largely pedestrianised or of restricted access to private vehicles.
The River Medway
River Medway
The River Medway, which is almost entirely in Kent, England, flows for from just inside the West Sussex border to the point where it enters the Thames Estuary....
had, until the coming of better roads and the railways, long been one of the principal means of transporting goods to and from Maidstone. Improvements had been made in about 1730 to the River Medway, so that barges of 40 tons could get upriver to East Farleigh
East Farleigh
East Farleigh is a village and civil parish in the local government district of Maidstone, Kent, England. The village is located on the south side of the River Medway about two miles upstream of the town of Maidstone...
, Yalding
Yalding
Yalding is a village and part of Yalding civil parish in the Maidstone District of Kent, England.The village is situated six miles south-west of Maidstone at a point where the Rivers Teise and Beult join the River Medway....
and even Tonbridge
Tonbridge
Tonbridge is a market town in the English county of Kent, with a population of 30,340 in 2007. It is located on the River Medway, approximately 4 miles north of Tunbridge Wells, 12 miles south west of Maidstone and 29 miles south east of London...
. This meant that a good deal of trade, including corn, hops, fodder, fruit, stone and timber passed through the town, where there were several wharfs.
The medieval stone bridge was replaced in 1879 to give better clearance: it was designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette
Joseph Bazalgette
Sir Joseph William Bazalgette, CB was an English civil engineer of the 19th century. As chief engineer of London's Metropolitan Board of Works his major achievement was the creation of a sewer network for central London which was instrumental in relieving the city from cholera epidemics, while...
. A second bridge, St. Peter's Bridge, was built in 1977.
Today the river is of importance mainly to pleasure-boat owners and the considerable number of people living on houseboats. For many years there has been a river festival during the last weekend in July, and a millennium project inaugurated the Medway River Walk, the Medway Park and a new footbridge linking the former cattle market (which is now a multiplex cinema and nightclub) west of the river to the shopping area to the east.
Bus transport in Maidstone is provided by Arriva Southern Counties
Arriva Southern Counties
Arriva Southern Counties is a bus operator in London, Surrey, West Sussex, East Sussex, Kent and Essex in England. It is a regional division of Arriva.- History :...
and Nu-Venture
Nu-Venture
Nu-Venture Coaches Ltd is an Aylesford, Kent-based bus company. Established in 1960s as a coach company, Nu-Venture once operated coach tour holidays all over Europe, and, in the 1980s, a London commuter service, but coach hire activities ceased in 2010....
transport companies. Bus services are centred on High Street, King Street and the Chequers Bus Station adjacent to the Mall
The Mall Maidstone
The Mall Maidstone is a covered shopping centre in Maidstone, the county town of Kent. Together with the Fremlin Walk shopping centre, which is uncovered, it is one of the two primary shopping venues within the town centre....
shopping centre. Weekday commuter coach services 781 and 784 between Maidstone and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
are operated by Chalkwell Coaches of Sittingbourne.
Maidstone Corporation Transport
Maidstone Corporation Transport was the operator of trams, trolleybuses and motorbuses in Maidstone, Kent from 1904 to 1974. The operations of Maidstone Corporation passed to Maidstone Borough Council Transport in reorganisation of local government in 1974, expanding the Borough...
was marked with several events, looking back at several historic operators of transport in Maidstone, and featuring a preserved trolleybus
Trolleybus
A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...
from the former Maidstone trolleybus system
Trolleybuses in Maidstone
The Maidstone trolleybus system once served Maidstone, the county town of Kent, England. Opened on , it gradually replaced the Maidstone tramway network....
.
Former bus operators in Maidstone include: Maidstone & District Motor Services Ltd
Maidstone & District Motor Services Ltd
Maidstone & District Motor Services Ltd was a bus company based in Maidstone, Kent. The company operated bus and coach services in Mid and West Kent and East Sussex from 1911 until 1998. The company's surviving operations were absorbed into Arriva Southern Counties.-Early years:In 1908 a hired...
(M&D); Maidstone Borough Council Transport, later Boro'line Maidstone
Boro'line Maidstone
Boro'line Maidstone, previously Maidstone Borough Council Transport was the municipal bus operator in Maidstone and the surrounding villages. Maidstone Borough Council Transport was formed in 1974 from Maidstone Corporation Transport following local government reorganisation...
; and Bygone Buses
Bygone buses
Bygone Buses was a post-deregulation bus operator based in Biddenden, Kent, England. It operated on local competitive and tendered services in Maidstone, Medway and The Weald of Kent. It emerged from a company called River Valley Coaches, and used an allover red livery.Bygone used some vintage...
.
When the railways were built in the 1840s, Maidstone was not well served. It was reported at the time that inhabitants were bitterly opposed to the railway: the mayor suggesting that “Maidstone will be ruined as a commercial town”. It was said that wharfingers and corn and coal merchants would be hardest hit.
In the event, in 1842, the South Eastern Railway
South Eastern Railway (UK)
The South Eastern Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1836 until 1922. The company was formed to construct a route from London to Dover. Branch lines were later opened to Tunbridge Wells, Hastings, Canterbury and other places in Kent...
, in its haste to reach the Channel ports of Folkestone and Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
, put its main line through Tonbridge and Ashford, some 6 miles (9.7 km) to the south. A station named Maidstone Road was built in an isolated spot called Paddock Wood
Paddock Wood
Paddock Wood is a small town and civil parish in the Borough of Tunbridge Wells and county of Kent in England, about southwest of Maidstone. At the time of the 2001 census it had a population of 8,263, and is the centre for hop growing in Kent.-History:...
, from where coaches were run to the county town.
Medway Valley Line
The Medway Valley Line is the name given to the railway line linking and the Medway Towns with and onward to , and London St Pancras International...
) connected Strood
Strood
Strood is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in South East England. It is part of the ceremonial county of Kent. It lies on the north west bank of the River Medway at its lowest bridging point, and is part of the Rochester post town....
with the town. It was not until 1874 that the line from London arrived; and another ten years before Ashford was connected by rail. There are three stations: Maidstone West
Maidstone West railway station
Maidstone West railway station is one of three railway stations which serve the Town Centre of Maidstone, the County Town of Kent.It lies approximately halfway along the Medway Valley Line from Paddock Wood; from Strood) and train services are provided by Southeastern.- History :Due largely to...
and Maidstone Barracks
Maidstone Barracks railway station
Maidstone Barracks railway station is one of three railway stations which serve Maidstone in Kent. It is on the Medway Valley Line, and train services are provided by Southeastern....
on the Medway Valley Line (whose platforms are visible one from the other); and Maidstone East
Maidstone East railway station
Maidstone East railway station is one of three stations in the central area of Maidstone, Kent, but currently the only one with a regular direct service to London. The station is on the Maidstone East Line, south-east of London Victoria , and is served by trains operated by...
on the Ashford line.
In 1905, a railway was authorised under the 1896 Light Railways Act to link Maidstone with Sutton Valence
Sutton Valence
Sutton Valence is a village some five miles SE of Maidstone, Kent, England on the Greensand Ridge overlooking the Vale of Kent and Weald. One of the main landmarks in the village is , of which only the ruins of the 12th century keep remain, under the ownership of English Heritage, open any...
and Headcorn
Headcorn
Headcorn is a village and civil parish in the Maidstone District of Kent, England. The parish is located on the floodplain of the River Beult south east of Maidstone....
, linking with the Kent & East Sussex Railway. The only part of the Headcorn & Maidstone Junction Light Railway ever built was a short branch serving the paper mills at Tovil.
Two long-distance footpaths are easily accessible from Maidstone. The Medway Valley Walk
Medway Valley Walk
The Medway Valley Walk follows the River Medway from Rochester to Tonbridge. Above Allington, it follows the bank of the Medway Navigation. It starts on the Saxon Shore Way at Rochester. The North Downs Way crosses the Medway Valley Walk at the eastern end of the Medway Viaduct or motorway bridge....
between Tonbridge and Gillingham passes through the town, following the banks of the river. The North Downs Way
North Downs Way
The North Downs Way is a long-distance path in southern England, opened in 1978. It runs from Farnham to Dover, past Godalming, Guildford, Dorking, Merstham, Otford and Rochester, along the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Kent Downs AONB.East of Boughton Lees, the path splits...
, which incorporates the Pilgrims' Way
Pilgrims' Way
The Pilgrims' Way is the historic route supposed to have been taken by pilgrims from Winchester in Hampshire, England, to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury in Kent...
to Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
, runs for 153 miles (246.2 km) between Farnham
Farnham
Farnham is a town in Surrey, England, within the Borough of Waverley. The town is situated some 42 miles southwest of London in the extreme west of Surrey, adjacent to the border with Hampshire...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
and Dover, passing about five miles (8 km) to the north and west.
Education
The town of Maidstone has fifteen secondary schools; twenty-three primary schools; and two special schools. Two of the secondary schools, Maplesden Noakes
Maplesden Noakes
Maplesden Noakes School is an 11-18 co-educational school in Maidstone, Kent, England. Since September 2005, the school has had a planned admission number of 180. The school is regularly over subscribed and has approximately 950 students on roll of which 160 are currently in the sixth form...
and Invicta Grammar School
Invicta Grammar School
Invicta Grammar School is a grammar school in Maidstone, Kent. The school caters for girls between the ages of 11 and 18. Some boys are accepted into the sixth form.-History:...
, have been awarded Business and Enterprise College
Business and Enterprise College
Business and Enterprise Colleges were introduced in 2002 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields...
status.
Alumni at Maidstone Grammar School
Maidstone Grammar School
Maidstone Grammar School is a grammar school located in Maidstone, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1549.-Admissions:The school takes boys at the age of 11 and over by examination and boys and girls at 16+ on their GCSE results. The school currently has almost 1200 students and approximately 120...
include James Burke
James Burke (science historian)
James Burke is a British broadcaster, science historian, author and television producer known amongst other things for his documentary television series Connections and its more philosophical oriented companion production, The Day the Universe Changed , focusing on the history of science and...
, television presenter, and Lord Beeching, responsible for cutting British railway routes. William Golding
William Golding
Sir William Gerald Golding was a British novelist, poet, playwright and Nobel Prize for Literature laureate, best known for his novel Lord of the Flies...
, author of Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding about a group of British boys stuck on a deserted island who try to govern themselves, with disastrous results...
was a teacher there. Also in Maidstone is a regional campus of the University for the Creative Arts (formerly Kent Institute of Art & Design
Kent Institute of Art & Design
The Kent Institute of Art & Design was an art school based across three campuses in the county of Kent, in the United Kingdom. It was formed by the amalgamation of three independent colleges: Canterbury College of Art, Maidstone College of Art and Rochester College of Art...
) at which the British artist Tracey Emin
Tracey Emin
Tracey Karima Emin RA is a British artist of English and Turkish Cypriot origin. She is part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs ....
, and the Graphic designers Toby Dison, Tony Rolfe, Andy Wall and Hassain Rauf began their artistic educations.
Maidstone Grammar School for Girls
Maidstone Grammar School for Girls
Maidstone Grammar School for Girls, also known as Maidstone Girls Grammar School , is a selective grammar school in Maidstone, UK. It operates under the 11 plus exam system, in which students take an exam at the end of primary school in order to be accepted at this school...
is also situated in the town.
Maidstone has two independently/non-government funded Academies. Cornwallis Academy (formerly The Cornwallis School) and New Line Learning
New Line Learning
New Line Learning are learning concept schools used in south Maidstone, Kent, England. It consists of two secondary schools in South Maidstone who are governed under one body to improve standards for children and create greater consistency in the quality of provision through a collective approach...
Academy's (formerly Oldborough Manor School and Senacre Technology College) which were all State Schools. The New Line Learning Academies will soon form one Academy, the Senacre School has been knocked down and housing built on the site, and all activities have moved to the Oldborough site, which will then be re-built. Cornwallis Academy will also be re-built, at a cost estimated to be over £62M.
Shaun Williamson
Shaun Williamson
Shaun Williamson is an English actor, singer, media personality and occasional presenter, best known for his former role as Barry Evans in soap opera EastEnders and as a version of himself in BBC sitcom Extras.- Career :...
, TV actor, attended the local Catholic Seconday School, St. Simon Stock School
St. Simon Stock School
St. Simon Stock Catholic School is a mixed secondary school in Maidstone, Kent, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1967 and is the only Roman Catholic secondary school in the area. It was named after the Carmelite St...
. The school serves Catholic families throughout the whole of mid-Kent.
As of the 2001 census, 15.7% of the town's residents aged 16–74 had a higher education
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
qualification or the equivalent, below the national average of 19.9%. 27.5% had no academic qualifications, compared to the national figure of 28.9%.
Religion
In 2001, the religions of the town's residents were recorded as 73.9% Christian, 0.8% Muslim, 0.7% Hindu, 0.3% Buddhist, 0.14% Sikh and 0.11% Jewish. 15.8% were recorded as having no religion, 0.6% had an alternative religion, and 7.7% did not state their religion.There are a number of churches and other religious congregational buildings within the town of varying denominations.
See List of churches in Kent
All Saints Church
All Saints Church, Maidstone
All Saints is a parish church in Maidstone, Kent. It is a Grade I listed building, and is described as the grandest Perpendicular style church in Kent.-Establishment and dissolution:...
in the centre of Maidstone was the collegiate church
Collegiate church
In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons; a non-monastic, or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a dean or provost...
of the College of All Saints
College of All Saints, Maidstone
The College of All Saints was an ecclesiastical college in Maidstone, Kent founded in 1395 by Archbishop Courtenay. It was part of the establishment of the nearby Archbishop's Palace, but was closed in 1546. The College church was the neighbouring Church of All Saints...
built in 1395 next to the Archbishop's Palace
Archbishop's Palace, Maidstone
The Archbishop's Palace is an historic 14th-century and 16th-century building on the east bank of the River Medway in Maidstone, Kent. Originally a home from home for travelling Archbishops from Canterbury, the building is today principally used as a venue for wedding services...
. It is a landmark building within the town and is notable for being one of the largest and widest Parish Churches in England. It contains a monument to Sir Jacob Astley
Jacob Astley, 1st Baron Astley of Reading
Jacob Astley, 1st Baron Astley of Reading was a Royalist commander in the English Civil War.-Life:He came from an established Norfolk family, and was born at Melton Constable. His first experiences of war were at the age of 18 when he joined the Islands Voyage expedition in 1597 under the Earl of...
, the Royalist Civil War soldier and a memorial to Lawrence Washington, great-uncle of George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
's great-great-grandfather that includes the stars and stripes
Coat of arms of George Washington
The coat of arms of George Washington, President of the United States of America from 1789 to 1797, were first used to identify the family in the twelfth century, when one of George Washington's ancestors took possession of Washington Old Hall, then in County Durham, in North East England.The...
in the family coat of arms
Radio and television
Maidstone has long held links to local radio. There are three radio stations: Invicta Sound (now Heart Kent) used to broadcast from studios in Earl Street; and Hospital Radio Maidstone is one of the longest serving hospital radio stations in the UK.KMFM Maidstone
KMFM Maidstone
KMFM Maidstone is an Independent Local Radio serving the town of Maidstone and the surrounding areas in Kent, South East England. It is part of the KMFM group of radio stations in the county, which are part of the KM Group.-History:...
, formerly CTR 105.6, is the local commercial station for the town - having once broadcast from studios in Mill Street, it now broadcasts from the studios of sister station KMFM Medway
KMFM Medway
KMFM Medway is an Independent Local Radio serving the Medway Towns and the surrounding areas in Kent, South East England. It is part of the KMFM group of radio stations in the county, which are part of the KM Group.-History:...
. It is part of the KM Group
KM Group
The KM Group, formerly known as the Kent Messenger Group until 2008, is a multimedia company based in the county of Kent in South East England...
who acquired the station in October 2006.
A new version of former pirate radio station Radio Caroline
Radio Caroline
Radio Caroline is an English radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly...
, broadcasts (via Sky
British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....
and the internet) from The Maidstone Studios
The Maidstone Studios
The Maidstone Studios, formerly called TVS Television Centre is a television studio complex with radio studio facilities based at Vinters Park in Maidstone, Kent UK...
, in the Vinters Park area of the town.
The town is home to the Maidstone Studios, an independent television production base that was once home to the former ITV company TVS
Television South
Television South was the ITV franchise holder in the south and south east of England between 1 January 1982 and 31 December 1992. The company operated under various names, initially as Television South plc and then following reorganisation in 1989 as TVS Entertainment plc, with its UK...
in Vinters Park.
Theatre
Hazlitt Theatre
The Hazlitt Theatre is one of the main theatres in Maidstone, Kent. It was named after William Hazlitt, the famous essayist, who was born in Maidstone in 1778. It opened in 1955 . It presents a varied programme of professional drama, comedy, music etc. as well as local community theatre groups. ...
; RiverStage; The Exchange Studio (previously known as ‘‘The Corn Exchange’’); and the Hermitage Millennium Amphitheatre.
Literature
Maidstone is mentioned several times in Ian Flemming's 1955 James BondJames Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
novel, Moonraker
Moonraker
Moonraker is the third novel by British author Ian Fleming featuring the fictional British Secret Service agent Commander James Bond. The book was first published by Jonathan Cape on 5 April 1955, bearing a cover based on Fleming's own concept...
. Specifically the villain Hugo Drax passes through King Street and Gabriels Hill and later stops at the Thomas Wyatt Hotel.
Museums
- Maidstone Museum & Art GalleryMaidstone Museum & Art GalleryMaidstone Museum & Bentlif Art Gallery is in Maidstone, Kent, England. It is located on St. Faith's Street, opposite Fremlin Walk, a new shopping centre in the region.- Overview :...
- Kent Life
- Tyrwhitt-Drake Museum of CarriagesTithe Barn, MaidstoneThe Tithe Barn in Maidstone, Kent is a large two-storey stone building on the east side of Mill Street. It was constructed in the 14th century as a tithe barn for the nearby Archbishop's Palace and was later used as the palace's stables. The barn is a Grade I listed building and a scheduled monument...
Martian crater
Following the NASANASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
tradition of naming craters on Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
after small towns, the Maidstone crater was added to the list of Martian geographical features in 1976.
Sport
Maidstone United F.C.
Maidstone United Football Club is an English football team from Maidstone, Kent.The current club is a continuation of the old Maidstone United, which was a member of the Football League between 1989 and 1992. The club was forced out of the league by financial ruin but the youth squad formed the...
football team was formed in 1897, and has had mixed fortunes in recent years. The peak of the club's achievement was gaining promotion to the Football League
The Football League
The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...
in 1989 after many years of success in non-league football
Non-league football
Non-League football is football in England played at a level below that of the Premier League and The Football League. The term non-League was commonly used well before 1992 when the top football clubs in England all belonged to The Football League; all clubs who were not a part of The Football...
. However, the club could not bring their own London Road Ground up to Football League standards so they ground-shared at Dartford's Watling Street stadium and played their games there. The club could not keep up with the financial pressures of the Football League and folded in 1992. A new club was formed and made its way from the Kent County League
Kent County League
The Kent County League, currently known as the haart of Kent County League for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition based in Kent, England. The league has four senior divisions - a Premier Division, Division One Division Two East and West, plus reserve divisions...
Division 4 to the Isthmian (Ryman) Premier Division, and currently compete in the Ryman Division One South. The club play at Sittingbourne F.C.
Sittingbourne F.C.
Sittingbourne F.C. are a football club based in Sittingbourne, Kent, England. They were established in 1886 and were founder members of the Kent League. They have reached the 2nd round of the FA Cup at least twice in their history...
's Bourne Park stadium. However, the club, recently under new ownership, look forward to moving in to their new ground at James Whatman Way
James Whatman Way
James Whatman Way is the project name for the new stadium of Maidstone United, an English football team who currently play their home games at Bourne Park, Sittingbourne...
in 2012. Construction on the stadium started in September 2011.
Maidstone Hockey Club is one of the oldest field hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
clubs in the country, founded in 1878. For the 2011/12 season, the Ladies' 1st XI play in the National League East Conference, having won the East Premier League the previous season, and the Men's 1st XI play in the South Hockey League 1st XI Premier League Division 2. The Men's and Women's 1st squad were both represented in the Indoor England Hockey League Division 2 England Hockey League, with the Men having previously won the Division 2 title in 2008/09. In total, the club has 7 men's sides and 4 women's sides playing at all levels of National, regional, and County leagues.
Maidstone Rugby Football Club is one of the oldest rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
clubs in the country, founded in 1880. The club runs 6 senior men's sides and a junior section.
Kent County Cricket Club
Kent County Cricket Club
Kent County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first class county county cricket clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the county of Kent...
played occasional matches on pitches at Mote Park
Mote Park
Mote Park is a 180 hectare multi-use public park in Maidstone, Kent. Previously a country estate it was converted to landscaped park land at the end of the 18th century before becoming a municipal park. It includes the former stately home Mote House together with a miniature railway, pitch and putt...
for some 150 years until 2005. Mote Park is the town's largest park and includes a number of recreational and sport facilities. The Lashings World XI
Lashings World XI
The Lashings World XI is a famous cricket team, founded by David Folb. It was originally formed in 1984 as a scratch team, and grew from an unremarkable English local club cricket team into, as it bills itself, the "World’s greatest cricket club"....
exhibition cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
team is based in Maidstone and has included a number of high-profile professional cricketers.
Maidstone Sailing Club are a small club that sail on Mote Park lake. Maidstone also has a rowing
Rowing (sport)
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
club, a martial arts
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
school, a tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
club, an athletics club, an American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
team, and a basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
club.
A baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
team, the Kent Mariners, are also based in the town. They play in the BBF
British Baseball Federation
The British Baseball Federation is the national governing body of baseball within the United Kingdom, founded in .BBF is a federated member of both the Confederation of European Baseball and the International Baseball Federation...
AA South division.
Notable people
- Dan AbnettDan AbnettDan Abnett is a British comic book writer and novelist. He is a frequent collaborator with fellow writer Andy Lanning, and is known for his work on books for both Marvel Comics, and their UK imprint, Marvel UK, since the 1990s, including 2000 AD...
, author - Robert BlatchfordRobert BlatchfordRobert Peel Glanville Blatchford was a socialist campaigner, journalist and author in the United Kingdom. He was a prominent atheist and opponent of eugenics. He was also an English patriot...
, socialist campaigner, journalist and author - Daniel BlytheDaniel BlytheDaniel Blythe is a British author, who was born in Maidstone in 1969 and studied Modern Languages at St John's College, Oxford. After several years writing stories for the small press, Blythe began his professional career writing for the Virgin New Adventures series of Doctor Who novels, and very...
, author - Julius BrenchleyJulius BrenchleyJulius Lucius Brenchley , of Maidstone, was a 19th-century English explorer, naturalist and author.-Life:...
, explorer - Michael ChaplinMike ChaplinMichael James Chaplin NDD, RWS, RE, FRSA is a British artist, known primarily for his work in the mediums of etching and watercolour. He was guest art expert on the Channel 4 art programme Watercolour Challenge with Hannah Gordon.-Life:Mike was born at Little Barford, to the south of St...
, artist and author - Mackenzie CrookMackenzie CrookPaul Mackenzie Crook is a British actor and comedian. He is best known for playing Gareth Keenan in The Office and Ragetti in the Pirates of the Caribbean films.-Life and career:...
, actor - David EdwardsDavid Edwards (journalist)David Edwards is a British political writer who specializes in the analysis of corporate media. He is co-editor of the Media Lens website....
, journalist - Robert FiskRobert FiskRobert Fisk is an English writer and journalist from Maidstone, Kent. As Middle East correspondent of The Independent, he has primarily been based in Beirut for more than 30 years. He has published a number of books and has reported on the United States's war in Afghanistan and the same country's...
, journalist and author - Guy FletcherGuy FletcherGuy Wilson Fletcher is an English multi-instrumentalist, best known for his position as the keyboardist in the British rock band Dire Straits from 1984 until the group's dissolution, and his involvement in nearly every part of Mark Knopfler's solo work to date.-Biography:Fletcher was born into a...
, musician - Samantha GilesSamantha GilesSamantha Giles is a British actress, probably best known for playing Bernice Thomas in Emmerdale , a role which earned her a TV Quick Award for Best Actress and a nomination for a National Television Awards for Most Popular Actress , and Sally Boothe in Where the Heart Is .Giles's other TV...
, actress - Albert GoodwinAlbert Goodwin (artist)Albert Goodwin was a notable English landscape painter specialising in watercolours. His work shows the influences of Turner and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood....
, artist - Alexander Henry GreenAlexander Henry GreenAlexander Henry Green FRS was an English geologist.Born at Maidstone, he was the son of the Rev. Thomas Sheldon Green, master of the Ashby Grammar School...
, geologist - Christopher Newman HallChristopher Newman HallRev. Dr. Christopher Newman Hall LLB , born at Maidstone and known in later life as a 'Dissenter's Bishop', was one of the most celebrated nineteenth century English Nonconformist divines...
, priest and anti-slavery campaigner - Jon HarleyJon HarleyJon Harley is an English footballer who has played for Chelsea, Wimbledon, Fulham, Sheffield United, West Ham United, Burnley, Watford and Notts County.-Chelsea:...
, footballer - Tony HartTony HartNorman Antony "Tony" Hart was an English artist and children's television presenter. He was famous for television shows such as Vision On, Playbox, Take Hart and Hartbeat.-Early life:...
, artist and TV presenter - William HazlittWilliam HazlittWilliam Hazlitt was an English writer, remembered for his humanistic essays and literary criticism, and as a grammarian and philosopher. He is now considered one of the great critics and essayists of the English language, placed in the company of Samuel Johnson and George Orwell. Yet his work is...
, essayist and critic - Edmund Walker HeadEdmund Walker HeadSir Edmund Walker Head, 8th Baronet, KCB was British colonial administrator.He was born at Wiarton Place, near Maidstone, Kent, the son of Reverend Sir John Head, 7th Bt. and Jane Head. He was educated at Winchester College and Oriel College, Oxford. He succeeded to his father's title in 1838...
, colonial administrator - Noel HowlettNoel HowlettNoel Howlett was an English actor, principally remembered as the incompetent headmaster, Morris Cromwell, in the ITV 1970s cult television programme Please Sir!...
, actor - John JenkinsJohn Jenkins (composer)John Jenkins , English composer, was born in Maidstone, Kent, and died at Kimberley, Norfolk.Little is known of his early life. The son of Henry Jenkins, a carpenter who occasionally made musical instruments, he may have been the "Jack Jenkins" employed in the household of Anne, Countess of Warwick...
, composer - Bill LewisBill LewisWilliam "Bill" Lewis is an English artist, story-teller, poet and mythographer. He was a founder-member of The Medway Poets and of the Stuckists art group.-Early life:...
, artist, storyteller, poet and mythographer - Malcolm MacDonaldMalcolm MacDonaldMalcolm John MacDonald OM, PC was a British politician and diplomat.-Background:MacDonald was the son of Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald and Margaret MacDonald. Like his father he was born in Lossiemouth, Moray...
, diplomat and politician - Carol McGiffinCarol McGiffinCarol Deirdre McGiffin is an English broadcaster of radio and television, best known for her regular appearances on daytime talk show Loose Women. She married Chris Evans in 1991; the couple separated in 1994 and divorced in 1998....
, presenter - John MoncktonJohn Monckton (town clerk)Sir John Braddick Monckton FSA was a British lawyer and civil servant, then Town Clerk of London for 30 years until his death. He was elected Town Clerk of London after the death of Frederick Woodthorpe on 17 July 1873 and served until 3 February 1902, his death date...
, lawyer, Town Clerk of LondonTown Clerk of LondonThe Town Clerk of London is an important position that has existed since the 13th century within the City of London, England. Originally the position was to take the minutes of London council meetings, but over the years the holder has gathered responsibility which requires staff and executive...
1873-1902 - Nicky MooreNicky MooreNicky Moore is a vocalist who is best known as a former member of the British band Samson. He replaced Bruce Dickinson who left the band to join Iron Maiden in 1982. Moore left Samson in the late 80s and rejoined in the late 90s....
, rock and blues musician - Frederic J. MouatFrederic J. MouatFrederic John Mouat was a British surgeon.He was born in Maidstone, Kent, the son of an army surgeon, and trained at University College London and Edinburgh University, qualifying as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1838. He entered the Indian Medical Service and was posted...
, surgeon - Ross NobleRoss NobleRoss Markham Noble is an English stand-up comedian, brought up in Cramlington, Northumberland, England.Noble rose to mainstream popularity through making appearances on British television, particularly interviews and on celebrity quiz shows such as Have I Got News for You...
, comedian - John OrrellJohn OrrellJohn Orrell was an author, theatre historian, and English professor at the University of Alberta. The New York Times described him as the “historian whose intellectual detective work laid the groundwork for the 1997 re-creation of Shakespeare’s original Globe Theater.”-Life and work:Orrell was...
, theatre historian and professor - Anthony PawsonAnthony PawsonAnthony 'Tony' James Pawson, OC, OOnt, CH, FRS, FRSC , British-born Canadian scientist whose research has revolutionized the understanding of signal transduction, the molecular mechanisms by which cells respond to external cues, and how they communicate with each other...
, microbiologist - Mike RatledgeMike RatledgeMichael Roland "Mike" Ratledge is a British musician. Ratledge was part of the Canterbury scene and a long-time member of Soft Machine.-Biography and career:...
, musician - Vic ReevesVic ReevesJames Roderick Moir , better known by the stage name Vic Reeves, is an English comedian, best known for his double act with Bob Mortimer . He is known for his surreal and non sequitur sense of humour....
, comedian - Ralph SteadmanRalph SteadmanRalph Steadman is a British cartoonist and caricaturist who is perhaps best known for his work with American author Hunter S. Thompson.-Personal life:Steadman was born in Wallasey, Cheshire, and brought up in Towyn, North Wales...
, illustrator - Simon StockSimon StockSaint Simon Stock, an Englishman who lived in the 13th century, was an early prior general of the Carmelite religious order. Little is known about his life with any historical certainty. The Blessed Virgin Mary is traditionally said to have appeared to him and given him the Carmelite habit, the...
, monk and saint - George TolhurstGeorge TolhurstGeorge Tolhurst was an English composer, resident from 1852 to 1866 in Australia.Born in Maidstone, Kent, George emigrated to Melbourne with his father, where he practised as a teacher of music. He returned to England in 1866, and died in Barnstaple in 1877...
, composer - Andy TownsendAndy TownsendAndrew "Andy" David Townsend is a former professional footballer, who played in two World Cups for the Republic of Ireland and is now a television and radio pundit....
, footballer - Scott WagstaffScott WagstaffScott Andrew Wagstaff is an English footballer who plays for Charlton Athletic.-Personal life:Born in Maidstone, Wagstaff attended Bennett Memorial Diocesan School in Tunbridge Wells, which he left in 2006 so he could concentrate on football...
, footballer - Shaun WilliamsonShaun WilliamsonShaun Williamson is an English actor, singer, media personality and occasional presenter, best known for his former role as Barry Evans in soap opera EastEnders and as a version of himself in BBC sitcom Extras.- Career :...
, actor ("Barry" from EastEndersEastEndersEastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
) - Peter Wolfe, musician
- William WoollettWilliam WoollettWilliam Woollett was an English engraver. He was born at Maidstone, of a family which came originally from the Netherlands....
, engraver - Nan YoungmanNan YoungmanNancy Mayhew Youngman OBE, was an English painter and educationalist: born Maidstone, Kent 28 June 1906; died Cambridge 17 April 1995. Youngman is remembered primarily as a painter, but from before the war to the mid-1960s she was an influential figure in art education, as a teacher, an author and...
, painter - Thomas WyattThomas Wyatt (poet)Sir Thomas Wyatt was a 16th-century English lyrical poet credited with introducing the sonnet into English. He was born at Allington Castle, near Maidstone in Kent – though his family was originally from Yorkshire...
, 16th century poet - Thomas Culpepper, lover of Queen Katherine Howard