Visit Maidstone Places

Welcome to Visit Maidstone Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Maidstone

  

Maidstone Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Maidstone

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Maidstone history

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Neolithic finds have revealed the earliest occupation of the area. Romans left their mark in the road through the town and evidence of villas. Normans set up a shire moot, and religious organisations established an abbey at Boxley, hospitals and a college for priests. Maidstone played a key role during the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.

Modern history

Modern Maidstone incorporates a number of outlying villages and settlements. The county council offices to the north of the town centre were built of Portland stone between 1910 and 1913. Maidstone General Hospital opened in 1983 replacing West Kent General Hospital, which opened 150 years earlier.

Maidstone culture & places

Television

The Maidstone Studios, formerly called TVS Television Centre, is the UK’s largest independent television studio complex. The studio complex first opened in late 1982, providing broadcasting and production output for Television South (TVS) The site was also used as a regional office and news gathering hub, broadcasting the South East daily edition of Coast to Coast.

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 novel, Moonraker. Villain Hugo Drax passes through King Street and Gabriels Hill. Writer Jack London recounts his visit to Maidstone in his 1903 book The People of the Abyss.

Museums

Maidstone Museum & Art Gallery has a large collection of over 600,000 objects. The core of the museum is located within the former Chillington Manor, an Elizabethan manor house. The Tyrwhitt-Drake Museum of Carriages is located in a Grade I Listed tithe barn near the Archbishop’s Palace. Kent Life is an open-air rural life museum at Sandling, near Allington Locks.

Martian crater

Maidstone crater was added to the list of Martian geographical features in 1976. It was named after the town of Maidstone in Maidstone, a small town on Mars.

Maidstone economy & business

Industry

Loudspeaker manufacturer KEF was founded in 1961 on the premises of the metal-working operation Kent Engineering & Foundry. Maidstone Borough Corporation began construction of Maidstone power station at Fairmeadow in 1900 and supplied electricity from 1901.

Shopping

Maidstone is ranked in the top five shopping centres in the south east of England for shopping yields. More than one million square feet of retail floor space is located in the two main shopping centres. The Mall Maidstone and Fremlin Walk are the main centres of the town.

Maidstone toponymy

Saxon charters of about 975 show the first recorded instances of the town’s name. The name evolved through medestan/meddestane in the Domesday Book with possible variation Mayndenstan, in 1396. The modern name appeared by 1610.

Maidstone geography / climate

The town is six miles downstream from where the River Medway is joined by the Rivers Teise and Beult at Yalding. It cuts through the ridge formed by the greensand, so that the town occupies a site on two opposite hills, the easterly one containing the town centre. The River Len provided the water to drive numerous watermills.

Climate

Kent experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. East Malling’s highest temperature of 37.4 °C (99.3 °F) was recorded in August 2003. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is “Cfb”

You can visit Maidstone places with Walkfo Maidstone to hear history at Maidstone’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Maidstone has 65 places to visit in our interactive Maidstone map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Maidstone, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Maidstone places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Maidstone & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 65 audio facts unique to Maidstone places in an interactive Maidstone map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Maidstone Places Map
65 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Maidstone historic spots	Maidstone tourist destinations	Maidstone plaques	Maidstone geographic features
Walkfo Maidstone tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Maidstone

  

Best Maidstone places to visit

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Maidstone has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Maidstone’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Maidstone’s information audio spots:

Mote Park Mote Park is a 440-acre (1.8 km) multi-use public park in Maidstone, Kent. Includes the former stately home Mote House together with a miniature railway and boating lake. A ground of the same name within the park has also been used as a first-class cricket ground by Kent County Cricket Club.

Minor Centre Minor Centre, also known as Grove Green Centre, is a shopping area in the development of Grove Green, and Weavering village. The complex includes a Tesco superstore, The Grove Green medical Centre, Mann Countrywide estate agents offices and Lloyds pharmacy. The Shepherd Neame Early Bird Public House is also located.

Mote Park (cricket ground) Mote Park, also known as The Mote, is a cricket ground in Maidstone, Kent. The ground is inside the grounds of the Mote Cricket Club and is owned by The Motes Cricket Club. It was used by Kent County Cricket Club as one of their out-grounds for county cricket matches.

KIMS Hospital KIMS Hospital is the largest independent private hospital in Kent. It treats privately insured, self-funding and NHS patients. It is situated on the Kent Medical Campus, off Junction 7 of the M20 Motorway.

Loose Stream The Loose Stream is a tributary of the River Medway. It rises in Langley, flows through Boughton Monchelsea, Loose and enters the Medway at Tovil. The stream has been dammed in many places, resulting in many mill ponds.

Battle of Maidstone The Battle of Maidstone (1 June 1648) was fought in the Second English Civil War. Parliamentarian troops won the battle over the defending Royalist forces.

Tithe Barn, Maidstone The Tithe Barn in Maidstone, Kent, was constructed in the 14th century as a tithe barn for the nearby Archbishop’s Palace. It was later used as the palace’s stables. The barn is a Grade I listed building and a scheduled monument.

Hazlitt Theatre The Hazlitt Theatre is one of the main theatres in Maidstone, Kent. It was named after the famous essayist William Hazlit, who was born in 1778. The traditional proscenium arch theatre seats 353.

Fremlin Walk Fremlin Walk is an outdoor shopping centre in Maidstone town centre, Kent. It opened in 2005 after several years of development by Centros Miller. The original owner was Land Securities plc. Legal & General Property bought the centre in 2011 for £92 million.

Maidstone Museum Maidstone Museum is a local authority-run museum located in Maidstone, Kent. The museum is one of three operated by Maidstone Borough Council. The building is Grade II* listed.

Visit Maidstone plaques