Maidstone is the largest
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares ...
in
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, England, of which it is the
county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The
River Medway
The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald, East Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a total distance ...
runs through the centre of the town, linking it with
Rochester
Rochester may refer to:
Places Australia
* Rochester, Victoria
Canada
* Rochester, Alberta
United Kingdom
*Rochester, Kent
** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area
** History of Rochester, Kent
** HM Prison ...
and the
Thames Estuary
The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain.
Limits
An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salini ...
. Historically, the river carried much of the town's trade as the centre of the agricultural county of Kent, known as the
Garden of England. There is evidence of settlement in the area dating back before the
Stone Age. The town, part of the
borough of Maidstone
The Borough of Maidstone is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England. Its administrative centre is Maidstone, the county town of Kent.
The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Mai ...
, had an approximate population of 100,000 in 2019. Since
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, the town's economy has shifted from heavy industry towards
light industry
Light industry are industries that usually are less capital-intensive than heavy industry and are more consumer-oriented than business-oriented, as they typically produce smaller consumer goods. Most light industry products are produced for ...
and services.
Toponymy
Saxon
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country ( Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the No ...
charters dating back to ca. 975 show the first recorded instances of the town's name, ''de maeides stana'' and ''maegdan stane'', possibly meaning ''stone of the maidens'' or ''stone of the people''. The latter meaning may refer to the nearby
megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
around which gatherings took place. The name evolved through ''medestan/meddestane'' in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
with possible variation ''Mayndenstan'', in 1396. The modern name appeared by 1610. It has 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.
History
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several part ...
finds have revealed the earliest occupation of the area, and the
Romans have left their mark in the road through the town and evidence of villas. The
Normans
The Normans ( Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Franks and Gallo-Romans. T ...
set up a
shire moot
A Shire court, or moot was an Anglo-Saxon legal institution, used to maintain law and order at a local level, and perform various administrative functions, including the collection of taxes for the central government.
The system originated in Wess ...
, and religious organisations established an abbey at
Boxley
Boxley is a village and civil parish in the Maidstone District of Kent, England.
It lies below the slope of the North Downs approximately northeast of the centre of Maidstone town. The civil parish has a population of 7,144 (2001 census), inc ...
, hospitals and a
college for priests. Today's suburb of
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 (now park land).
History
Before the expansion of Maidstone, the heath was often used as a venue for a site for sh ...
was a place of execution in medieval times.
Maidstone played a key role during the
Peasants' Revolt
The Peasants' Revolt, also named Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Blac ...
of 1381. The rebel priest,
John Ball, had been imprisoned there and was freed by Kentish rebels under the command of
Wat Tyler
Wat Tyler (c. 1320/4 January 1341 – 15 June 1381) was a leader of the 1381 Peasants' Revolt in England. He led a group of rebels from Canterbury to London to oppose the institution of a poll tax and to demand economic and social reforms. Wh ...
, who is reputed to have been a resident of the town.
Maidstone's charter as a town was granted in 1549; although briefly revoked, a new charter in 1551 created the town as a borough. The charter was ratified in 1619 under
James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
* James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
* James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
* James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334 ...
, and the coat of arms was designed, bearing a golden lion and a representation of the river (in
heraldic
Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known bran ...
terms: ''Or, a fess wavy Azure between three roundels Gules, on a chief Gules a leopard passant gardant Or''). Recently to these arms were added the head of a white horse (representing
Invicta, the motto of the county of Kent), a golden lion and an
iguanodon
''Iguanodon'' ( ; meaning 'iguana-tooth'), named in 1825, is a genus of iguanodontian dinosaur. While many species have been classified in the genus ''Iguanodon'', dating from the late Jurassic Period to the early Cretaceous Period of Asia, ...
. The iguanodon relates to the discovery in the 19th century of the fossilised remains of that
dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
, now in the
Natural History Museum
A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more ...
in London. Maidstone has had the right to a town gaol since 1604.
During the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians ("Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of Kingdom of England, England's governanc ...
, the
Battle of Maidstone
The Battle of Maidstone (1 June 1648) was fought in the Second English Civil War and was a victory for the attacking Parliamentarian troops over the defending Royalist forces.
Background
In May 1648, a significant part of the Royalist uprisi ...
took place in 1648, resulting in a victory for the
Parliamentarians.
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 Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
, and today a plaque in Maidstone Town Centre memorialises Broughton as 'Mayor and
Regicide
Regicide is the purposeful killing of a monarch or sovereign of a polity and is often associated with the usurpation of power. A regicide can also be the person responsible for the killing. The word comes from the Latin roots of ''regis'' ...
'.
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
The River Len is a river in Kent, England. It rises at a spring in ''Bluebell Woods'' to the southeast of the village centre of Lenham from the source of the River Great Stour; both rise on the Greensand Ridge. Its length is c. It enters the ...
from 1740, an important development in the history of printing.
A permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of
cavalry barracks in 1798.
Invicta Park Barracks is now home to the
36 Engineer Regiment.
Maidstone Prison
HM Prison Maidstone is a Category C men's prison, located in Maidstone, Kent, England. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service.
History
Maidstone Prison is one of the oldest penal institutions in the United Kingdom, having been i ...
is north of the town centre and was completed in 1819.
Modern history
Modern Maidstone incorporates a number of outlying villages and settlements (see
Geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, a ...
below).
The county council offices to the north of the town centre were built of
Portland stone
Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a buildi ...
between 1910 and 1913. On 29 September 1975 a local pub serving Invicta Park Barracks, ''The Hare and Hounds'', was damaged by a bomb during an
IRA campaign in England.
[BBC Kent History]
retrieved 11 July 2007
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. It is just to the north of
Oakwood Hospital (originally the Kent County Asylum), which closed in the mid-1990s.
Residents are employed in the retail, administrative or service sectors; there are industrial estates around the town providing employment. Some of the workforce commute to other towns, including to London.
Governance
Members of Parliament
The town is divided between the constituencies of
Maidstone and the Weald and
Faversham and Mid Kent
Faversham and Mid Kent is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament. Since 2015, the seat ha ...
. Before 1997 Maidstone was in the
county constituency
In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons.
Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by electoral districts called "constituenc ...
of
Maidstone
Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...
. The
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...
(MP) for Maidstone and the Weald is
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
Helen Grant. Previous MPs include
Ann Widdecombe
Ann Noreen Widdecombe (born 4 October 1947) is a British politician, author and television personality. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidstone and The Weald, and the former Maidstone constituency, from 1987 to 2010 and Member of t ...
,
Sir John Wells,
Sir Alfred Bossom and
Benjamin Disraeli. Since 2015 the MP for Faversham and Mid Kent has been Conservative
Helen Whately
Helen Olivia Bicknell Whately (''née'' Lightwood; born 23 June 1976) is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Social Care since October 2022, and previously from 2020 to 2021. She also served as Exchequer Secretary to the Trea ...
. Prior to the 2015 election, the MP was Conservative
Sir Hugh Robertson.
Local government
Kent County Council
Kent County Council is a county council that governs most of the non-metropolitan county, county of Kent in England. It is the upper tier of elected local government, below which are 12 non-metropolitan district, district councils, and around ...
is responsible for social services, education, maintenance of and new infrastructure, fire services and minerals. It is elected every four years: Maidstone elects nine representatives, and villages are in the four rural wards.
The town is the main town of
Maidstone borough, which includes the surrounding rural areas except to the north-west. The town is divided into the 12 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 30 of the 55 seats on Borough Council.
Maidstone Borough Council is responsible for services such as recreation, refuse collection, most planning decisions and
social housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, d ...
.
Geography
The town is six miles downstream from where the
River Medway
The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald, East Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a total distance ...
, having flowed in a generally west–east direction, is joined by the Rivers
Teise and
Beult at
Yalding and changes its course to a northerly one. It cuts through the ridge formed by the
greensand
Greensand or green sand is 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 co ...
, so that the town occupies a site on two opposite hills, the easterly one containing the town centre. Beyond that, and higher, is
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 (now park land).
History
Before the expansion of Maidstone, the heath was often used as a venue for a site for sh ...
.
The
River Len joins the Medway at Maidstone. Though a short river, it provided the water to drive numerous
watermills. The
Loose Stream, which rises at
Langley and joins at
Tovil, once powered over 30 mills. Mill ponds on these rivers are a prominent feature of the landscape.
Roads connecting to
Sevenoaks
Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506 situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter main line railway into London. Sevenoaks is from Charing Cross, the tradition ...
and
Ashford Ashford may refer to:
Places
Australia
*Ashford, New South Wales
*Ashford, South Australia
*Electoral district of Ashford, South Australia
Ireland
*Ashford, County Wicklow
*Ashford Castle, County Galway
United Kingdom
* Ashford, Kent, a town
** ...
(the
A20); the
Medway Towns
Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to f ...
and
Hastings
Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west a ...
(
A229);
Tonbridge
Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated population ...
(
A26) and
Tenterden
Tenterden is a town in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. It stands on the edge of the remnant forest the Weald, overlooking the valley of the River Rother. It was a member of the Cinque Ports Confederation. Its riverside today is ...
(
A274). All these roads were served by the
Turnpike trusts
Turnpike trusts were bodies set up by individual acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal roads in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries. At the peak, in the 1830s, ...
in the 18th/19th centuries.
The two railway routes are not principal ones, in spite of Maidstone being the county town, due to an accident of history. There are two principal stations:
Maidstone East, the more northerly of the two, on the secondary line from London to Ashford, and
Maidstone West on the
Medway Valley Line.
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
Bearsted ( , ) is a village and civil parish with railway station in mid-Kent, England, two miles (3.2 km) east of Maidstone town centre.
Geography
The village was historically concentrated around Church Lane and The Green which includes ...
, Penenden Heath,
Sandling, Tovil and Weavering Street. Housing estates include
Grove Green, Harbourland,
Ringlestone, Roseacre, Shepway, Senacre 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
Fremlin's Brewery, once the largest in Kent, is now
Fremlin Walk
Fremlin Walk is an outdoor shopping centre in Maidstone town centre, Kent, England. It opened in 2005 after several years of development by Centros Miller to include of shopping and a 760 space car park.
The original owner was Land Securitie ...
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
Kent experiences a
maritime climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...
with cool summers and mild winters. The nearest official
Met Office
The Meteorological Office, abbreviated as the Met Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and is led by CEO Penelope ...
weather station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include tempera ...
for which online records are available is at
East Malling, about three miles west of Maidstone.
East Malling's highest temperature of was recorded in August 2003. The lowest temperature recorded is during January 1947 and 1972. East Malling also holds the record for the mildest January day in South East England, , also set in 2003. The lowest temperature recorded in recent years was on 20 December 2010. The
Köppen Climate Classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
subtype for this climate is "
Cfb" (Marine West Coast Climate).
Demography
In the
2001 UK census
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.
The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...
, Maidstone town wards had a population of 75,070, a density of 28 residents per
hectare
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...
. The town had 31,142 households, of which 38% were married couples, 29% were individuals, 10% were
cohabiting
Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not married, usually couples, live together. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become increasi ...
couples, and 9% were single-parent families. 14% of households had someone living alone of
pension
A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...
able age.
The
ethnicity
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
was 96.6% white, 0.9%
mixed race
Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-eth ...
, 0.3% Chinese, 1.5% other Asian, 0.4% Black and 0.3% other.
The place of birth 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 73.9% Christian, 0.8% Muslim, 0.7% Hindu, 0.3% Buddhist, 0.14% Sikh and 0.11% Jewish. 15.8% had no religion, 0.6% had an alternative religion, and 7.7% did not state their religion.
Economy
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 on the premises of the metal-working operation Kent Engineering & Foundry (hence KEF). 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 in surrounding business parks.
Southern Water
Southern Water is the private utility company responsible for the public wastewater collection and treatment in Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, West Sussex, East Sussex and Kent, and for the public water supply and distribution in approximat ...
and
Mid Kent Water operate the Maidstone water system.
''Maidstone Borough Corporation'' began construction of Maidstone power station at Fairmeadow in 1900 and supplied electricity from 1901, firstly for street lighting then other uses.
Upon nationalisation of the electricity industry in 1948 ownership of the station passed to the British Electricity Authority and then to the Central Electricity Generating Board. In 1966 the power station had a generating capacity of 13.125 MW and delivered 6,921 MWh of electricity. The CEGB later closed the station and it was demolished in 1973.
Shopping
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 located in the two main shopping centres in the town, the
The Mall Maidstone (previously known as The Chequers Centre) and the
Fremlin Walk
Fremlin Walk is an outdoor shopping centre in Maidstone town centre, Kent, England. It opened in 2005 after several years of development by Centros Miller to include of shopping and a 760 space car park.
The original owner was Land Securitie ...
which opened in 2005.
Other recent developments include the riverside Lockmeadow Centre, with a
multiplex cinema, restaurants, nightclubs (now a trampoline park), and the town's market square. The leisure industry is a key contributor with the night-time economy worth £75m per annum.
Employment
In the 2001 UK census, 45.2% of residents aged 16–74 were employed full-time, 12.7% part-time, 7.6% self-employed and 2.5% unemployed, while 2.3% were students with jobs, 3.0% 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 in line with the national average.
Employment, by industry, was 19% retail; 13% real estate; 11% manufacturing; 9% construction; 7% transport and
communication
Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inqu ...
s; 10% health and
social work
Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...
; 8%
public administration
Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, Administration (government), administration of Government, government establishment (Governance#P ...
; 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 high percentage of workers in construction and public administration, and a low percentage in agriculture.
According to the
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament.
Overview
The ONS is responsible for ...
estimates, the average gross income of households between April 2001 and March 2002 was £595 per week (£31,000 per year).
Education
The town is served by 15 secondary schools, 23 primary schools, and two special schools. Non-selective secondary schools include
Cornwallis Academy,
The Maplesden Noakes School,
New Line Learning Academy,
St Augustine Academy,
St. Simon Stock School
St Simon Stock Catholic School is a mixed secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in Maidstone, Kent, England. It was founded in 1967 and is the only Roman Catholic secondary school in the area. It was named after the Carm ...
and
Valley Park School. Grammar schools serving the town include
Maidstone Grammar School,
Invicta Grammar School
Invicta Grammar School is a grammar school with academy status in Maidstone, Kent, England. The school caters for girls between the ages 11 to 16, with a coeducational sixth form.
Previous names
The school has previously been known as Maidstone ...
,
Maidstone Grammar School for Girls
Maidstone Grammar School for Girls, also known as Maidstone Girls Grammar School (MGGS), 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 o ...
and
Oakwood Park Grammar School
Oakwood Park Grammar School is a boys grammar school with academy status located in Maidstone, United Kingdom. The school is co-educational in the sixth form (years 12 and 13). The school takes boys at the age of 11 and over by examination ...
.
Alumni of the oldest school, Maidstone Grammar School (founded 1549), include
James Burke, television presenter, and
Lord Beeching, of the
British railway cuts of the 1960s.
William Golding
Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel ''Lord of the Flies'' (1954), he published another twelve volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 1980 ...
, author of ''
Lord of the Flies
''Lord of the Flies'' is a 1954 novel by the Nobel Prize-winning British author William Golding. The plot concerns a group of British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves. Themes ...
'' was once a teacher at the school.
The
University for the Creative Arts
The University for the Creative Arts is a specialist art and design university in the south of England.
It was formed in 2005 as University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester when the Kent Ins ...
(formerly
Kent Institute of Art & Design
The Kent Institute of Art & Design (KIAD, often ) 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 ...
) at which
Turner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award). ...
nominated artist
Tracey Emin
Tracey Karima Emin, CBE, RA (; born 3 July 1963) is a British artist known for her autobiographical and confessional artwork. Emin produces work in a variety of media including drawing, painting, sculpture, film, photography, neon text and ...
, fashion designer
Karen Millen
Karen Millen is a British online women's clothing retailer specialising in tailoring, coats and evening wear. Formerly a high street chain with stores throughout the United Kingdom, United States, Indonesia, Austria, Denmark, Russia, the Republ ...
and television personality and artist
Tony Hart
Norman Antony Hart (15 October 1925 – 18 January 2009),Debrett's People of Today 2008, Debrett's Peerage Ltd, 2007. known professionally as Tony Hart, was an English artist best known for his work in educating children in art through his role ...
studied, has a campus at the
Maidstone TV Studios.
In the 2001 census, 15.7% of residents aged 16–74 had a
higher education
Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after compl ...
qualification or 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, religions were 73.9% Christian, 0.8% Muslim, 0.7% Hindu, 0.3% Buddhist, 0.14% Sikh and 0.11% Jewish. 15.8% had no religion, 0.6% had an alternative religion, while 7.7% did not state their religion.
All Saints' church in the town centre was the
collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a Church (building), church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college (canon law), college of canon (priest), canons: a non-monastic or secular clergy, "secular" community of clergy, organis ...
of the
College of All Saints built in 1395 next to the
Archbishop's Palace. It contains a monument to
Sir Jacob Astley, the Royalist
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...
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
[Harris, Brian (2006) ''Harris's Guide to Churches and Cathedrals'' ] The college, the church, the palace and the palace's
tithe barn
A tithe barn was a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing rents and tithes. Farmers were required to give one-tenth of their produce to the established church. Tithe barns were usually associated with the ...
are all Grade I
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...
s.
Jubilee Church is an independent Maidstone-based Christian church which forms partnerships not only in Kent, but in Canada and
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...
. In Ukraine it has events with
Ockert Potgieter
Ockert Potgieter (Ukrainian: Окерт Потгітер; 11 December 1965 – 11 October 2021) was a South African missionary in Ukraine and a film director.
Education
Potgieter completed his school years at Potchefstroom Gimnasium. He st ...
of the Light of the World Church.
Culture
Twinning
* Maidstone is twinned with
Beauvais
Beauvais ( , ; pcd, Bieuvais) is a city and commune in northern France, and prefecture of the Oise département, in the Hauts-de-France region, north of Paris.
The commune of Beauvais had a population of 56,020 , making it the most populo ...
in
Picardy
Picardy (; Picard and french: Picardie, , ) is a historical territory and a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Hauts-de-France. It is located in the northern part of France.
Hist ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
.
A Twinning Association Committee meets every month. It organises annual trips to the Jeanne Hachette Festival in Beauvais. An annual sporting weekend is also held, with Maidstone and Beauvais taking it in turns to host the event.
Radio
There are several radio stations based in the town, or which broadcast to it.
KMFM Maidstone, formerly CTR 105.6, is the local commercial station. It used to broadcast from studios on mill street, however now broadcasts from the studios of sister station
KMFM Medway
KMFM Medway is an Independent Local Radio serving the Medway Towns and the surrounding areas in Kent, South East England. It is the Medway region of the KMFM radio network (owned by the KM Group), containing local advertisements and sponsorshi ...
in
Strood
Strood is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in Kent, South East England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rochester, Gillingham and Rainham. It lies on the northwest bank of the River Medway at its lowest ...
.
Maidstone Radio, which broadcast from the Maidstone Community Support Centre, has recently started broadcasting in December 2019 and is listed as a community radio station. The station currently airs online and on smart speaker devices.
Hospital Radio Maidstone, which broadcasts from
Maidstone Hospital, started broadcasting in 1963.
Invicta FM (now
Heart South), use to broadcast from Canterbury but had a second studio in Earl Street.
Television
Local news is provided by
BBC South East and
ITV Meridian
ITV Meridian (previously Meridian Broadcasting) is the holder of the ITV (TV network), ITV franchise for the South and South East England, South East of England. The station was launched at 12:00 am on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadca ...
.
The Maidstone Studios
The Maidstone Studios, formerly called TVS Television Centre, is the UK's largest independent television studio complex, and is based at Vinters Park in Maidstone, Kent, UK. It has been home to a varied selection of independent British televisi ...
, formerly called TVS Television Centre, is the UK's largest independent television studio complex. It is based at Vinters Park on New Cut Road. The studio complex first opened in late 1982, providing broadcasting and production output for
Television South
Television South (TVS) was the ITV franchise holder in the South and South East of England between 1 January 1982 at 9.25 am and 31 December 1992 at 11.59 pm. The company operated under various names, initially as 'Television South plc' and ...
(TVS). The site was also used as a regional office and a news gathering hub, broadcasting the South East daily edition of ''Coast to Coast''. TVS continued to use Maidstone until the end of their franchise, which they lost in 1991.
The studio complex is now home to two studios. Studio One, with 12,000 sqft space, is the flagship studio and has seen many national TV programmes such as ''
Supermarket Sweep
''Supermarket Sweep'' is an American television game show. The format combines an ordinary team-based quiz show with the novel concept of a live, timed race through a supermarket. In the timed race, cameras follow the teams with shopping carts t ...
'', ''
Take Me Out
A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production.
Film
In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup". Takes of each s ...
'' and ''
Catchphrase
A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture
Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recogni ...
''.
Theatre
Theatres include the
Hazlitt Theatre; RiverStage; The Exchange Studio (previously the ‘‘Corn Exchange’’); and the Hermitage Millennium Amphitheatre.
Literature
Maidstone is mentioned several times in
Ian Fleming's 1955
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 19 ...
novel, ''
Moonraker
Moonraker may refer to:
* Moonrakers, a colloquialism for people from Wiltshire, England
''James Bond'' media franchise
* ''Moonraker'' (novel), a 1955 James Bond novel by Ian Fleming
* ''Moonraker'' (film), a 1979 film based on the novel
* ...
''. Villain Hugo Drax passes through King Street and Gabriels Hill and later stops at the Thomas Wyatt Hotel.
Writer
Jack London
John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...
recounts his visit to Maidstone in his 1903 book ''
The People of the Abyss
''The People of the Abyss'' (1903) is a book by Jack London, containing his first-hand account of several weeks spent living in the Whitechapel district of the East End of London in 1902. London attempted to understand the working-class of this ...
''. Whilst living in the slums of London in the summer of 1902, he heads to Maidstone in search of hop-picking work up the London Road. He finds lodgings with a "Sea Wife" living in the poor quarter of Maidstone, and persuades her and her husband to let him stay in their front room.
Museums
Maidstone Museum & Bentlif Art Gallery
Maidstone Museum & Art Gallery
Maidstone Museum is a local authority-run museum located in Maidstone, Kent, England, featuring internationally important collections including fine art, natural history, and human history. The museum is one of three operated by Maidstone Boro ...
is located in the town centre, near to the
Fremlin Walk
Fremlin Walk is an outdoor shopping centre in Maidstone town centre, Kent, England. It opened in 2005 after several years of development by Centros Miller to include of shopping and a 760 space car park.
The original owner was Land Securitie ...
shopping centre. Operated by
Maidstone Borough Council
Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it with ...
, the museum is open seven days a week, with free admission. The Museum & Art Gallery has a large collection of over 600,000 objects, including collections about
ancient Egyptians;
archaeology
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts ...
;
costume
Costume is the distinctive style of dress or cosmetic of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, profession, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch. In short costume is a cultural visual of the people.
The term also was tradition ...
;
ethnography;
biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditar ...
;
fine and decorative art;
geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...
;
Japanese decorative arts and prints; and
local history
Local history is the study of history in a geographically local context, often concentrating on a relatively small local community. It incorporates cultural and social aspects of history. Local history is not merely national history writ small bu ...
. It also hosts temporary exhibitions.
The core of the museum is located within the former Chillington Manor, an Elizabethan
manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals with ...
completed in 1577. New wings were added to the building in the 19th century. A striking gold-coloured extension was added in 2012 which has extended the display space by 40% but the modern design has divided opinion.
Kent Life
Kent Life, formerly the Museum of Kent Life, is an open-air rural life museum at
Sandling, near
Allington Locks, on the east bank of the
River Medway
The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald, East Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a total distance ...
. The museum includes a collection of historic buildings including a chapel, village hall and old houses. It also includes displays on agriculture, including a farm yard and farm animals.
Tyrwhitt-Drake Museum of Carriages
The
Tyrwhitt-Drake Museum of Carriages is located in a Grade I
Listed tithe barn
A tithe barn was a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing rents and tithes. Farmers were required to give one-tenth of their produce to the established church. Tithe barns were usually associated with the ...
near the
Archbishop's Palace. The museum was established by
Sir Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake, a former mayor of Maidstone, who amassed a large collection of
horse-drawn vehicles
A horse-drawn vehicle is a mechanized piece of equipment pulled by one horse or by a team of horses. These vehicles typically had two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers and/or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have m ...
.
Martian crater
Following the
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...
tradition of naming craters on
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmos ...
after small towns, the
Maidstone crater was added to the list of Martian geographical features in 1976.
Sport
Football
Maidstone United
Maidstone United Football Club is a professional football club based in Maidstone, Kent, England. The team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league system.
The current club filled the void left by the ol ...
was formed in 1897. The club gained promotion to
the Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
in 1989, from
non-league football
Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is s ...
. The club could not bring its London Road Ground up to Football League standards so it ground-shared at
Dartford's Watling Street stadium and played its games there. It went bankrupt in 1992. A new club was formed and made its way from the
Kent County League
The Kent County League is a football competition based in Kent, England. The league has seven senior divisions – a Premier Division, Division One East and West, Division Two East and West and Division Three East and West. It sits below the Sou ...
Division 4 to the
Isthmian (Ryman) Premier Division, in 2014 being in the Ryman Premier Division. The club moved into the new Gallagher Stadium at
James Whatman Way in summer 2012. Maidstone United currently play in the National League, the highest non-league division and the fifth tier of English football.
Hockey
Maidstone Hockey Club is one of the oldest
hockey
Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
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, with the Men having previously won the Division 2 title in 2008–09. The club has seven men's and four women's sides playing in national, regional and county leagues.
Rugby union
Maidstone Rugby Football Club is one of the older
rugby clubs in England, having been founded in 1880. The club runs 6 senior men's sides and a junior section. In the 2014–15 season they were unbeaten and won the National
RFU Intermediate Cup at
Twickenham Stadium
Twickenham Stadium () in Twickenham, south-west London, England, is a rugby union stadium owned by the Rugby Football Union ( RFU), English rugby union governing body, which has its headquarters there. The England national rugby union team pl ...
.
Cricket
Kent County Cricket Club
Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ke ...
used
Mote Park
Mote Park is a 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 tog ...
as a regular out-ground 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
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...
team is based in Maidstone and has included a number of high-profile professional cricketers.
Other sports
Maidstone Sailing Club sails on Mote Park lake. Maidstone also has a
rowing
Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically at ...
club, a
martial arts school, a
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...
club, an athletics club, an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...
team and a
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
club.
A
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...
team, the Kent Mariners, is based in the town, playing in the
BBF AA South division.
Notable people
*
Dan Abnett
Dan Abnett (born 12 October 1965) is an English comic book writer and novelist. He has been 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, sinc ...
(born 1965), author
*
William Alexander William or Bill Alexander may refer to:
Literature
*William Alexander (poet) (1808–1875), American poet and author
* William Alexander (journalist and author) (1826–1894), Scottish journalist and author
*William Alexander (author) (born 1976), ...
(1767–1816), painter
*
Edward Balston
Edward Balston (26 November 1817 – 29 November 1891) was an English schoolmaster, Church of England cleric, head master of Eton College from 1862 to 1868 and later Rector of Hitcham, Buckinghamshire, Vicar of Bakewell, Derbyshire, and A ...
(1817–1891), head master of Eton College
*
Angela Barnes
Angela Barnes (born 9 November 1976) is an English stand-up comedian, mostly known for her appearances on ''Mock the Week''.
Early life
Barnes was born in Sidcup, London and brought up in Maidstone, Kent. She went to Invicta Grammar School ...
(born 1976), actress and comedian, grew up in Maidstone.
*
Robert Blatchford
Robert Peel Glanville Blatchford (17 March 1851 – 17 December 1943) was an English socialist campaigner, journalist, and author in the United Kingdom. He was also noted as a prominent atheist, nationalist and opponent of eugenics. In the early ...
(1851–1943), socialist campaigner, journalist and author
*
Daniel Blythe
Daniel Blythe (born 1969 in Maidstone) is a British author, who 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 Adven ...
(born 1969), author
*
Julius Brenchley (1816–1873), explorer
*
Georgina Campbell (born 1992), actress
*
Michael Chaplin (born 1943), artist and author
*
Thomas Culpeper (c. 1514 – 1541), purported lover of Queen
Catherine Howard
Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542), also spelled Katheryn Howard, was Queen of England from 1540 until 1542 as the fifth wife of Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a cousin to Anne Boleyn (the ...
*
Mackenzie Crook
Paul James "Mackenzie" Crook (born 29 September 1971) is an English actor, comedian, director and writer. He played Gareth Keenan in '' The Office'', Ragetti in the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' films, Orell in the HBO series ''Game of Throne ...
(born 1971), actor
*
Bill Cockcroft
William Cockcroft DL is the former Chief Scout Commissioner of England and was director of the 21st World Scout Jamboree.
Cockcroft graduated from The Judd School in 1965, and the University of South Bank in 1970, majoring in Quantity Surve ...
(living), former Chief Scout Commissioner of England
*
David Edwards (born 1962), journalist
*
Jesse Ellis (1846–1916), engineer and pioneer of steam wagons
*
Ernest Elmore (1901–1957), novelist
*
Robert Fisk
Robert Fisk (12 July 194630 October 2020) was a writer and journalist who held British and Irish citizenship. He was critical of United States foreign policy in the Middle East, and the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians. His stan ...
(1946–2020), journalist and author
*
Guy Fletcher (born 1960), musician
*
Samantha Giles (born 1971), actress
*
Albert Goodwin
Albert "Ginger" Goodwin (May 10, 1887–July 27, 1918), nicknamed Ginger for his bright red hair, was a migrant coal miner who advocated for workers' rights and promoted the cause of unions in British Columbia, Canada. Angered by the working ...
(1845–1932), artist
*
Tamsin Greig (born 1966), actress
*
Alexander Henry Green
Alexander Henry Green FRS (10 October 183219 August 1896) was an English geologist.
Life
Green was born at Maidstone on 10 October 1832, was the eldest son of Thomas Sheldon Green, head-master of the Ashby Grammar School at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, wh ...
(1832–1896), geologist
*
William Grocyn (c. 1446 – 1519), theologian
*
Christopher Newman Hall (1816–1902), priest and anti-slavery campaigner
*
Jon Harley (born 1979), association footballer
*
Tony Hart
Norman Antony Hart (15 October 1925 – 18 January 2009),Debrett's People of Today 2008, Debrett's Peerage Ltd, 2007. known professionally as Tony Hart, was an English artist best known for his work in educating children in art through his role ...
(1925–2009), artist and TV presenter
*
William Hazlitt
William Hazlitt (10 April 177818 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history of the English lan ...
(1778–1830), essayist and critic
*
Edmund Walker Head
Sir Edmund Walker Head, 8th Baronet, KCB (16 February 1805 – 28 January 1868) was a 19th-century British politician and diplomat.
Early life and scholarship
Head was born at Wiarton Place, near Maidstone, Kent, the son of the Reverend Sir ...
(1805–1868), colonial administrator
*
Noel Howlett
Noel Howlett (22 December 1902 – 26 October 1984) was an English actor, principally remembered as the incompetent headmaster, Morris Cromwell, in the ITV 1970s cult television programme '' Please Sir!'' He was the subject of infatuation by D ...
(1902–1984), actor
*
John Jenkins (1592–1678), composer
*
Bill Lewis
William Lewis (born 1 August 1953) is an English artist, story-teller, poet and mythographer.Milner, Frank, ed. ''The Stuckists Punk Victorian'', p. 86, National Museums Liverpool 2004, . Pages 6–30, Charles Thomson's essay, "A Stuckist ...
(born 1953), artist, poet and mythographer
*
Doug Loft
Douglas James Loft (born 25 December 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Tonbridge Angels.
A non-League player at Hastings United, Loft moved to Championship club Brighton & Hove Albion in January 2 ...
(born 1986), footballer
*
Malcolm MacDonald
Malcolm Ian Macdonald (born 7 January 1950) is an English former professional footballer, manager and media figure. Nicknamed 'Supermac', Macdonald was a quick, powerfully built prolific goalscorer. He played for Fulham, Luton Town, Newcastle U ...
(1901–1981), diplomat and politician
*
Carol McGiffin (born 1960), broadcaster
*
John Monckton (1832–1902), lawyer,
Town Clerk of London
The Town Clerk of London is an important position that has existed since the 13th century in the City of London, England. Originally the role was to take the minutes of London council meetings, but over the years the holder's role has gathered re ...
1873–1902
*
Nicky Moore (born 1947), rock and blues musician
*
Frederic J. Mouat
Frederic John Mouat (18 May 1816 – 12 January 1897) was a British surgeon, chemist and prison reformer. He was part of the committee that helped identify the Andaman Islands as a suitable location for a convict settlement. He examined the use ...
(1816–1897), surgeon
*
Diana Noel, 2nd Baroness Barham (1762–1823), philanthropist and abolitionist
*
Natalie O'Connor (born 1982), British international trampoline athlete
*
John Orrell
John Orrell (December 31, 1934 – September 16, 2003) was a British 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 t ...
(1934–2003), theatre historian and professor
*
Anthony Pawson
Anthony James Pawson (18 October 1952 – 7 August 2013) was a British-born Canadian scientist whose research revolutionised the understanding of signal transduction, the molecular mechanisms by which cells respond to external cues, and how the ...
(1952–2013), microbiologist
*
Joe Pigott
Joseph David Wozencroft Pigott (born 24 November 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for League One club Portsmouth on loan from Ipswich Town.
Career Charlton Athletic
Born in Maidstone, Kent, Pigott began his ...
(born 1993), footballer
*
Mike Ratledge (born 1943), musician
*
Alessia Russo (born 1999), Footballer
*
William Shipley (1715–1803), founder of the
Royal Society of Arts
The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...
*
James Smith (1871–1946), recipient of the
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
*
Ralph Steadman
Ralph Idris Steadman (born 15 May 1936) is a British illustrator best known for his collaboration and friendship with the American writer Hunter S. Thompson. Steadman is renowned for his political and social caricatures, cartoons and picture b ...
(born 1936), illustrator
*
Simon Stock (13th c.), monk and saint
*
Tallulah, (1948 – 28 March 2008), DJ
*
George Tolhurst
George Tolhurst (5 June 182718 January 1877) 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 Englan ...
(1927–1977), composer
*
Andy Townsend
Andrew David Townsend (born 23 July 1963) is a former professional footballer and sports co-commentator for Premier League Productions and CBS Sports.
As a player he was a midfielder who notably played in the Premier League for Chelsea, Aston ...
(born 1963), footballer
*
Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake (1881–1964), twelve times mayor of Maidstone and owner of Maidstone Zoo
*
Scott Wagstaff (born 1990), footballer
*
Shaun Williamson
Shaun Williamson (born 29 November 1965) is an English actor best known as Barry Evans in '' EastEnders'' and as a satirical version of himself in the BBC/ HBO sitcom '' Extras'', 'Barry off EastEnders'.
Early life
Williamson was born in Par ...
(born 1965), actor
*
Peter Wolfe (born 1968), musician
*
William Woollett
William Woollett (15 August 173523 May 1785) was an English engraver operating in the 18th century.
Life
Woolett was born in Maidstone, of a family which came originally from the Netherlands.
He was apprenticed to John Tinney, an engraver i ...
(1735–1785), engraver
*
Nan Youngman
Nancy Mayhew Youngman OBE, (28 June 1906 – 17 April 1995), was an English painter and educationalist. 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 ...
(1906–1995), painter
*
John Watkins (1834–1902), Mormon pioneer and Utah architect
*
Thomas Wyatt (1503–1542), poet and politician
*
Graham Chapman
Graham Chapman (8 January 1941 – 4 October 1989) was a British actor, comedian and writer. He was one of the six members of the Surreal humour, surreal comedy group Monty Python. He portrayed authority figures such as The Colonel (Monty Pyth ...
(1941–1989), actor
*
Chris Broad Chris Broad may refer to:
* Chris Broad (cricketer)
Brian Christopher Broad (born 29 September 1957) is a former English cricketer and broadcaster who currently serves as a cricket official.
As an opening batsman, he played 26 Test matches for ...
(born 1990), YouTuber, filmmaker and podcast host
See also
*
Borough of Maidstone
The Borough of Maidstone is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England. Its administrative centre is Maidstone, the county town of Kent.
The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Mai ...
*
History of Maidstone
References
External links
Maidstone Council website
{{Authority control
Towns in Kent
County towns in England
Market towns in Kent
Unparished areas in Kent
Borough of Maidstone