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Maidstone, Kent

Historical Description

Maidstone, a market and assize town, a parliamentary and municipal borough, and a parish in Kent. The townstands on the river Medway, with three stations on the S.E.R., one of which is called Maidstone Barracks and another Tovil; the L.C. & D. R. also has communication with the town from Swanley Junction via Sevenoaks. Acreage of the municipal and parliamentary borough, which is conterminous with the civil parish, 4008; population, 32,145. Maidstone dates from very early times. It is said to have been the third largest city of the ancient Britons, and to have been called by them Medwag or Megwad, from the name of the river. It was known to the Romans as Ad Madam, also from the name of the river, which the Romans called Madus. Some antiquaries suppose it to have been the station Vag-niacse of Antoninus, and they fortify their opinion by the fact that numerous Roman remains have been found here; but others hold the opinion as tpeii to doubt. The town was called Medwegestan or Medwagston by the Saxons, and appears in Domesday Book as Meddestane, and it then had several mills, eel fisheries, and saltpans. The manor be- longed from an early period to the Archbishops of Canterbury; was transferred to Henry VIII. by Cranmer; remained with the Crown till the time of Edward VI.; was given then to Sir Thomas Wyatt of Allington; reverted, at Wyatt's rebellion, to the Crown; was given by Charles I. to the Hattons; and passed in 1720 to the Eomneys. The Archbishops of Canterbury for a time had no residence in it; but Archbishop Laugton acquired the house of W. de Com-hill in it in the time of King John; Archbishop Ufford commenced the reconstruction of that house into a palace in 1348; and subsequent archbishops completed, enlarged, and adorned it, and used it as a favourite residence. The palace was given by Queen Elizabeth to Sir John Astley, passed to Sir Jacob Astley, Charles I.'s Baron of Reading, and was alienated from the Astleys to the first Lord Romney (1685-1750), and in the Jubilee year (1887) was purchased by the corporation, and is now used for several town purposes. The town acquired importance from the presence of the archbishops; received some enrichments at their hands; was long the halting-place of pilgrims to Canterbury, and had, for their use, an edifice called the Travellers' Hospital or College, founded by Archbishop Boniface. Some Protestant martyrs were burnt in the town in the time of Mary; the plague devastated it in 1593-95,1604,1607, and 1666-68; and Fairfax, at the head of 10,000 men, stormed it in 1648. About 2000 Royalist troops, under Sir John Mayney, held it against Fairfax; they made such stout resistance as to yield the ground only inch by inch, and after a struggle of five hours they retreated into the church, and there made terms for surrender. Clarendon says, " It was a very sharp encounter, very bravely fought, with Fairfax's whole strength, and the veteran soldiers confessed that they had never met with the like desperate service during the war." Archbishop Lee, Bishop Ralph de Maidstone, Bishop Walter de Maidstone, Jenkyns the composer, Woollett the engraver, Jeffrys the painter, Broughton the secretary at Charles I.'s trial, and Newton the local historian were natives; and Earl Winchelsea takes from the town the title of Viscount.

The town occupies a fine situation. It is screened by surrounding hills, rising from the beautiful vale of the Medway; it stands principally on the slopes of a hill, ascending from the right bank of the river, and declining toward the W and the S; it derives ventilation and cleanliness from the nature of its site; it is noted for both the excellence of its water and the dryness of its soil; and it enjoys the amenities of a surrounding country rendered peculiarly charming by innumerable orchards and hop-gardens. It consists chiefly of four streets, intersecting one another near the public drinking fountain, and of smaller ones leading from them; and it extends upwards of a mile from N to S, and is about a mile in breadth. The High Street ascends to the W, and is very spacious. A portion of the centre is taken up by a block of buildings called the Middle Row, at the top of which is the town hall. The London and Tonbridge roads, partly edificed with elegant modern houses, go off from the bridge, and the Lock Meadows, named from a park or pleasaunce which anciently belonged to the Episcopal Palace and the Travellers' Hospital, extend on the same side of the river. A bridge over the Medway to replace an older structure was built in 1878-79 at a cost of £32,000, and is composed entirely of granite and Kentish rag-stone. A general view of the town, owing to the configuration of the ground on both sides of the vale, is not easily obtained; but such partial views as can be got are very fine. One of the best is from a point on the river bank below the W end of the churchyard; and this shows the old palace, the old hospital, and All Saints' Church in a very picturesque group. Other views take much character from gabled houses and decorated fronts, and from the barracks, now the depot of the Royal West Kent (Queen's Own) Regiment, and formerly an important cavalry depot. A few of the houses are ancient, and more or less quaint or picturesque, but nearly all are modern and handsome. A tendency to extension became manifest in the third decade of the 19th century; and it worked on all sides, particularly to the E of Gabriel's Hill and Week Street, on the Ashford Road, and latterly very much on the other side of the river, but it has not seriously altered the general aspect of antiquity. The old palace, as enlarged by Archbishop Courtenay, and as both enlarged and adorned by Archbishop Morton, is now the property of the Corporation. A long range of building, on the opposite side of the road, originally part of the palace offices, and now used for stables and tan stores, shows the original exterior little altered, exhibiting windows and an external stair of Late Decorated English character. A small building at the end of Mill Street, immediately at the gate turning down to the palace, is probably of the 14th century, and shows interesting architectural features. Another ancient house, with very rich carved and pargeted front, probably of the time of James I., is on the right on entering High Street from the railway station. Chillington House, in St Faith Street, originally the court-house of the manor, and now occupied as the public museum, belongs to the early part of the 16th century, exhibits interesting features of that period, and contains.a fine collection of local Roman antiquities, and a collection of fossils and birds from the neighbourhood, and numerous other curiosities. Altogether it is one of the most complete and interesting museums in the country. A new wing, consisting of a very fine art gallery, erected by Sir Bentlif, was added in 1890. The Travellers' Hospital or College, situated on the slope between All Saints' Church and the river, underwent considerable alterations in 1845, but still presents to antiquarian observers a very fine upper gateway tower, a long downward range of quondam priests' apartments, a lower tower at the end of that range, part of the master's house occupying the side of a court toward the river, a ruined tower adjoining that house, and a second or back gateway. The hospital was originally founded in 1260 by Archbishop Boniface; was incorporated in 1395 by Archbishop Courtenay, with a new college of secular priests founded by him contiguous to All Saints' Church; and continued to flourish till suppressed in the first year of Edward VI. The ruins, besides the interest of their architectural features, possess the interest of rich variety of tinting from weather-worn stone and clustering ivy, and the upper gateway tower commands one of the best views over the town and vale.

The Town-hall stands in High Street near the centre of the town, and is a large plain building. The Assize Court and the Prison stand at the top of Week Street on a plot of 14 acres, form together one fine structure of Kentish rag, and were built in 1818 at a cost of £200,000. The building has recently been much improved. The court-house is in the front, comprises a commodious range of rooms, and is used both for assizes and for quarter sessions. The prison has capacity for over 700 prisoners. The Royal West Kent Barracks stand below on the river side, and have accommodation for about 700 men. At the top of Union Street is a large brick building erected in 1857 as a barracks for the West Kent Militia, but since sold to private owners. The Corn Exchange was erected over the market for meat, fish, and vegetables, at a cost of £4000; is entered by an archway from High Street at the Mitre Hotel; and was thought for a time to be very commodious, but the business done in it, originally extensive and multifarious, grew rapidly, and improvements on it, long felt to be much needed, were completed in the spring of 1867. There are assembly rooms, public baths, and public drinking-fountains. The baths stand in Fair Meadow, and were erected in 1852, and iu 1894 underwent considerable enlargement. A drinking-fountain in the High Street, erected in 1862 at the expense of Mr Eandall, is an open Gothic quadrangular structure enclosing a life-size marble statue of the Queen and surmounted by richly-crocketed canopy, consists of red Mansfield stone in the base and of Portland stone in the upper part, and has at the angles columns of red granite with carved capitals each surmounted by a statue-figure of a winged angel. There is an interesting museum, and adjoining it technical schools of science and art erected in 1894. The County Lunatic Asylum stands at Banning Heath, and is an extensive range of building with accommodation for nearly 1500 inmates. The West Kent General Hospital was enlarged in 1889. The mechanics' institution, as well as the public museum, is held in Chilington House, and it has a library of upwards of 13,000 volumes, and maintains lectures during the winter months. There are also a Church Institute with assembly rooms and gymnasium, a freemasons' hall, two political clubs, three banks; and five weekly newspapers are published. In 1894 a recreation ground was laid out costing over £5000.

All Saints' Church stands commandingly on a cliff; was mainly built in 1381-96 by Archbishop Courtenay; is all Later English; comprises nave, aisles, and chancel, with a chantry of 1366; had formerly another chantry of 1406; has a SW tower 78 feet high, formerly surmounted by a spire 80 feet high, which was destroyed by lightning in 1730; contains a richly painted chancel screen, elaborately ornamented sedilia, the grave of Archbishop Courtenay, remains of an ancient fresco, several ancient monuments, and a Jacobean font. The whole building was very beautifully restored in 1885-86 at a cost of £11,000. Trinity Church stands in Church Street, was erected in 1828, and is a large plain stone edifice restored in 1877. St Peter's Church was. originally the chapel of the Travellers' Hospital, stood long-in a state of neglect and dilapidation, and was restored and enlarged in 1839. St John's Church stands at Mote Parky the seat of the Earl of Romney, was built in 1861, and is in. The Early English style, of Bath stone, with bell-turret. St Paul's Church stands at Perryfields, was built in 1860 at a cost of more than £5000, is in the style of the 14th century, and consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with a tower. St Philip's Church stands at Kingsley, and was built in 1858-and greatly altered in 1869. St Stephen's Church stands in Tovil township about a mile from the town, and is a stone-building in the Early English style. St Faith's Church was completed in 1881, and is a stone building in the Early English style. St Michael and All Angels' Church, built in 1875,. is a building of Kentish rag-stone in the Decorated style. The Congregational Chapel in Week Street was built in 1865 at a cost of £2649, is in the Italian style, of white brick, with Bath stone dressings. There are three chapels for Baptists, two for Wesleyans, and one each for Presbyterians, Quakers, Unitarians, Primitive Methodists, and Roman Catholics. The public cemetery is on the Sutton Road about a mile S of the town, and has two handsome chapels. There are remains of a Grey friary founded in 1331 and removed to Walsingham, and of St Faith's Chapel, which was used in the time of Elizabeth by the Walloons. The Grammar School for Boys, formerly in Earl Street, now in the Tonbridge Road, arose from property of the Corpus Christi Brotherhood, founded in 1324 and suppressed in 1547, and has an endowed income and two exhibitions at University College, Oxford. In the Jubilee year a Grammar School for Girls was erected in Sittingbourne Road at a cost of about £7000, a large portion of which was given by the Rochester Bridge Trustees; the school is doing excellent work. The Blue-coat School in Knightrider Street was founded in 1711, and gave education to fifty-three boys and forty-three girls, and had an endowed income. Sir Charles Booth's School also gave education to thirty-five boys and thirty-five girls, and had an endowed income. Owing to the rearrangement of other schools, these charity schools were stopped in 1894, and the buildings are virtually unoccupied. Sir John Banks' alms-houses are for six poor persons, and have £60 a year from. endowment; Brenchley's are for old persons, and have £50; Duke's are for females, and have £191; Hunter's are for twelve poor persons, and have £268; Con-all's are for six persons in six houses; and Cutbush's are for decayed tradesmen or journeymen mechanics, were built and endowed in 1865 at a cost of nearly £12,000, and give £52 a year to the holder of each of six houses. The Edmett charity provides annuities of five shillings per week and upwards for some seventy annuitants, and also distributes coal and clothing at Christmas and pays the cost of a district nurse. There are also Fisher's charity for apprenticing boys; Wright's charity, partly for lectures and relief to women; and several other almshouses, which are well managed and much appreciated by those who receive the benefits. The total amount of endowed charities is about £1500 a year.

The town has a head post office, and is a seat of assizes, quarter sessions, petty sessions, and county courts. A market for corn, seeds, and hops is held on every Thursday, a market for general business on every Saturday, a cattle market weekly on Tuesday, and fairs on 13 Feb., 12 Slay, 20 June, and 17 Oct. An extensive navigation traffic is carried on up and down the Medway; it amounted for a number of years to an annual aggregate of 120,000 tons passing through Allington Lock, and paying £3000 of tolls. It has been reduced since the opening of the railways, but is still very much used, a large number of barges being continually employed. The wharves at the town are well suited for unloading coals, but afford no proper berth to a sea-going vessel, and have no suitable appliances for discharging heavy goods or for shipping timber. There are several paper mills, breweries, malting establishments, a distillery, a tannery, iron-foundries, agricultural implement manufactories, coach-building establishments, Roman cement and lime works, ornamental plaster works, tobacco-pipe works, and hop-bag, matting, sacking, and rope and twine manufactories. There are also in the neighbourhood brick-fields, extensive stone quarries, and extensive market-orchards. The stone from the quarries is a Kentish rag, much used for docks, wharves, and church-building; and the fruit from the orchards is sent largely to the London and north-country markets. One of the neighbouring quarries furnished the famous fossil iguanodon now in the Natural History Museum at South Keusington. A quantity of timber from the Weald is barged hence down the river for the use of the Chatham Dockyard, but this trade has very much decreased since iron has become so generally used in shipbuilding. The town is a borough by prescription, was first chartered by Edward VI., and sent two members to Parliament until 1885, when the number was reduced to one. It is divided into four wards, and governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors. The Maidstone Union Workhouse is at Linton.

Loddington hamlet, lying detached about 5 miles to the S, is the part of the parish not included in the municipal borough, and it comprises 590 acres. Tovil township or hamlet, lying on the Medway about 1 mile to the S, is mainly but not wholly in the parish. In 1872 an iron bridge for foot passengers was constructed over the Medway, and connects the village with Maidstone (West Borough), and there is also another foot-bridge connecting Tovil with the largely-populated part of the borough opposite. The Mote, the seat of the Earl of Eomney, about 1 mile to the E, was rebuilt by the third Lord Komney about 1795; took its name, not from any ancient moat around the previous edifice, but from the Anglo-Saxon word mot, signifying " a gathering place," and stands in a fine park containing some grand old oaks and beeches, and comprising about 600 acres. It has for a long time been occupied by the Dowager-Duchess Lady Howard de Walden. The river Len, crossed by a bridge, runs in front of the mansion, and a pavilion, near the site of the previous house, marks a spot on which the third Lord Eomney, in the presence of George III., gave a dinner to upwards of 3000 of the Kentish YRomanry. Penenden Heath, about 1¼ mile NNE of the town, is a large open space where county meetings have been held for centuries. The livings are all vicarages in the diocese of Canterbury; net values - All Saints, £240; St Faith's, £274; St Michael and All Angels, £275; St Paul's, £320; St Philip, £300; St Peter's, £244; St Stephen's, £300; gross values-Holy Trinity, £295, and St John the Evangelist, £249. All have residences.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Ancient CountyKent 
Ecclesiastical parishMaidstone All Saints 
HundredMaidstone 
LatheAylesford 
Poor Law unionMaidstone 

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.


Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Maidstone from the following:


Maps

Online maps of Maidstone are available from a number of sites:


Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Kent newspapers online:


Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Kent, 1619 is available on the Heraldry page, as is also The Visitation of Kent, 1663-68.

DistrictMaidstone
CountyKent
RegionSouth East
CountryEngland
Postal districtME14
Post TownMaidstone

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