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Maidstone Leasing

Did You Know?

Maidstone the county town of Kent has a rich history going back to the Mesolithic times. It’s home to the Archbishop’s Palace, formally the fourteenth century residence of the Archbishops of Canterbury and the River Medway flows through this intriguing town.

While over the centuries Maidstone earned the title of Kent’s county town and became known for its paper making and brewing industries, that has not always been the case. Maidstone first became known as a town when it was granted the royal charter in 1549, a title it was to lose five years later for its part in the Wyatt Rebellion.

By the 13th century, Maidstone grew into a town. Situated on the Medway it was ideally situated for transporting vegetables and fruit from Kent by water to London. It was also the market town for a large part of Kent. As well as a weekly market Maidstone also had annual fairs. In the Middle Ages fairs were like markets but they were held only once a year. People would come from all over Kent and from London to buy and sell at a Maidstone fair.

Elephants were once a common sight in Maidstone as the Zoo was a popular tourist attraction until it closed in 1959. For 25 years local townsfolk could hear the lions roaring and Gert and Daisy the elephants became firm favourites. The zoo’s home at Cobtree Manor Park became run down, but more recently has been given a new lease of life.

Maidstone’s coat of arms depicts a lion and one of the town’s most famous residents, Iggy the Iguanadon. The skeleton of Iggy was discovered in a quarry in the town in 1834, A cast of the 125-million-year-old herbivore can be seen in Maidstone Museum. Iggy is the first dinosaur to be depicted on any coat of arms.

Resident of Maidstone Edmund Allin, his wife and five others were burnt at the stake, at the site of the Drakes pub in Fairmeadow, for refusing to accept Catholicism. This was in 1557 and a plaque on the site of Drakes pays tribute to seven people who were “burnt for their faith”

The River Medway which runs through Maidstone leads into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness. Depending on whether you were born on the north side or the south side of the river would have determined what you could be classed as. Those born north of the river would have the right to call themselves a Kentish Man, or Kentish Maid. And born south of the river you’d have been a Man of Kent, or Maid of Kent.