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Historic Maidstone A walking tour www.tour-maidstone.com A walking tour of Historic Maidstone Historic Maidstone At the top of Gabriel’s Hill is a plaque commemorating Samuel A walking tour Pepys, who visited Maidstone in March 1669: In Maidstone hundreds of years of English …“Thence to Maydstone, which I had a history are still visible around you. You just mighty mind to see, having never been there; and walked all up and down the need to know where to look. Follow this short town, and up to the top of the steeple, walking tour to discover more about the hidden and had a noble view, and then down history of Maidstone, Kent’s County Town. You again: And so, having walked all round will see a number of black historic plaques on the town, and found it very pretty, as most towns I ever saw, though not very big, and your walk which provide more details. Their people of good fashion in it… ” locations are shown in this leaflet and on the The Diary of Samuel Pepys map at the back with an asterisk. Your walk Return to Bank Street. Note the black plaque against the wall starts from the Town Hall Visitor Information of the Town Hall. Centre in the High Street. 3*-Bank Street Bank Street retains a typical medieval street layout, with many 1-Town Hall shops dating from the 15th-17th centuries. Notice four white statues set into niches in the first floor above no.89-90. From A fine Georgian building dating from 1763, the Town Hall left to right are; Lord Avebury, Sir Lawrence Washington, served many purposes as market space, magistrate’s William Caxton and Archbishop Courtenay, all of whom have court, council chambers and gaol. The gaol was located played an important part in shaping the town’s history. In in the loft and can still be visited today, its walls 1395 Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury was granted a covered in 18th Century graffiti. Outside the royal license by Richard II to build All Saints Church and the Town Hall is a map by local artist Graham College of Priests alongside the Archbishops Palace. William Clarke illustrating Maidstone’s historic town Caxton was England’s first printer, who published “The Dictes centre. The statue of a young Queen Victoria and Sayinges of the Philosophres” in 1476, the first book dates from 1862, and stands on the site of the printed in English. Lawrence Washington was a lawyer and ancient market cross. ancestor of George Washington, who was buried at All Saints Walk past the Queens Monument to the corner of Gabriel’s Hill. Church in 1619. MP for Maidstone Lord Avebury, introduced Bank Holidays in 1872. Don’t miss the colourful plaster 2-Gabriels Hill decoration above no.78. Gabriels Hill was the site of the climax of the Battle of Maidstone, fought on the 1st June 1648 during the English Continue to the corner of Mill Street. .A black plaque is Civil War. Described as being one of the most fiercely located near the cannon. contested battles in the whole Civil War, Parliamentary forces commanded by General Fairfax of Leeds Castle clashed with 4*-Lower High Street On January 28th 1554 Sir Thomas Wyatt, Protestant son of the Royalist troops. After hours of fierce hand-to-hand fighting famous poet of Allington Castle, rode into the High Street and Parliamentary forces were finally victorious. 300 Royalists called on the men of Kent to aid him in preventing Queen Mary’s were killed here on one night and 1300 taken prisoner. marriage to the catholic Philip of Spain. He found ten thousand The Golden Boot, with its distinctive Wellington boot trade men ready to protest against this unpopular foreign match. sign, has been run by the same family since 1790,and is Like previous Kentish uprisings, the revolt failed, Wyatt was believed to be the oldest shoe shop in the country. executed and Maidstone lost its Royal Charter. A walking tour of Historic Maidstone The Russian Gun “the Cannon” was captured in battle during the people of Maidstone to mark Queen Victoria’s Golden the Crimean War and was presented to the town in 1858 by Jubilee and is now used as a Register Office. The Palace is Lord Pamure, the Secretary of War. open to the general public during Heritage Open Days in Walk down Mill Street to the crossing of the Len River. The September and to groups by special arrangement. plaque is on the railings of the bridge. 8-Herb Garden 5*-Mill Street In the grounds to the left of the Palace is an authentic medieval Until 1900 there were two mills here, which originally served herb garden maintained by the Kent Garden Trust which may the Archbishops’ Palace. You can still see the ancient millpond be visited by the public. Note the Dove of Peace statue. formed by a dam on the River Len. One of the oldest structures in Maidstone is the 13th century stone bridge which still 9*-All Saints Church stands under the modern road junction. You can see the old Maidstone’s main parish church is built on the site of the bridge from the foot of the steps inside the Palace gardens to 7th century Saxon church called St Mary’s, but was rebuilt in the right of the ancient Gatehouse. the 14th Century by Archbishop Courtenay to become the “grandest Perpendicular church in England.” The church was Cross the busy A229 carefully. completed in 1398 and externally has remained largely 6-Carriage Museum unchanged, although it did formerly possess a wooden spire, Originally named the “Tithe Barn” this building was where the which was destroyed by lightning in 1730. Set into the south visitors to the Archbishops Palace lodged their servants and wall of the church is a 17th Century memorial to local man horses. The stone work and buttresses may well be of the Lawrence Washington, great-uncle of the famous George same date as All Saints Church (1397). Today the Archbishop’s Washington. The memorial bears the Stars and Stripes of the stables are home to the Maidstone Carriage Museum, which Washington family, which were subsequently adopted was opened in1946 by the eccentric Sir Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake, in the flag of the United States of America. Don’t miss 12-times Mayor of Maidstone. It houses his unique collection the 15th century wall painting behind the choir-stalls, of horse-drawn vehicles, widely regarded as the finest in which still bears the scars of Europe. Open Summer only. the sword-slashes of Cromwell’s soldiers, who tried to destroy this 7*-Archbishops Palace religious image in 1648 This site was described in the Domesday Survey as land held during the Civil War. by the Archbishop of Canterbury at “Maddestane.” As Lords of the Manor, the Archbishops were responsible for maintaining Cross Knightrider Street, walk under the arch. The College law and order and had their own gaol. Among its inmates was plaque is near the poster display. John Ball, the so- called “Mad Priest of Kent” whose preachings so infuriated the church hierarchy. Kent was one of the main 10*-College of All Saints centres of rebellion during the Peasants Revolt in 1381. This building formed part of a complex of medieval architecture Rebels led by local man Wat Tyler released John Ball, then which remains one of the most complete and impressive in stormed the Tower of London and beheaded the Chancellor. England. The College was built in 1395 by Archbishop Courtenay Confronting King Richard II, Wat Tyler to house the priests attached to All Saints Church. This was an was stabbed and killed by the Mayor of London. important spiritual and intellectual centre for the whole County The Archbishops Palace was originally built in 1348 as one of in medieval times and Erasmus’ friend Grocyn was Master of the a string of five Archbishops Palaces between Canterbury and College. King Henry VIII dissolved the college in 1546 and the Lambeth in London. King Henry VIII stayed here, appointed a property was much neglected until the late 17th Century when Maidstone man as Royal Physician to treat his painful gout, it came into farming use. It is now leased as private offices. and later took the property for the Crown. It was bought by Walk down Knightrider Street to the river’s edge. A walking tour of Historic Maidstone 11-Maidstone Millennium River Park 13*-Riverside One of the largest projects in the South East to mark the new The riverside was once a hive of industry. Local ragstone Millennium, Maidstone’s Millennium River Park opened up was shipped down the River Medway to build the Roman access to the River Medway along a 10-km path from Teston wall of the City of London, and later the Tower of London. to Allington. Opened in October 1999, the award-winning After 1739 upriver navigation was enhanced to enable Lockmeadow Millennium Bridge is one of the landmarks Maidstone to trade with the whole of the Weald. River traffic of the new park. This modern structure occupies the site was still considerable in 1900, but as roads improved river of a 14th Century ford, once the main crossing point for the transport went into terminal decline. Today, the River Medway River Medway. On the opposite bank is Lockmeadow Market is used for recreation and visitors can enjoy the beautiful (held Tues and Sat mornings) and The Stag. This 21ft tall scenery on board the Kentish Lady II and the Allington Belle, aluminium sculpture was erected in London in 1963 and now which sail between Maidstone Bridge and Allington Lock.