Maidstone Market
Lockmeadow
In the mid-15th century, there was a park situated on the opposite side of the river to the Archbishops’ Palace. It was known as the ‘Court Garden’ or ‘My Lord’s Garden’ and was part of the estate belonging to the Palace. The area is now called ‘Lockmeadow’ after a lock and weir (pictured below), which were removed in the 1920s.
Maidstone began to boom as an industrial and society town in the 18th century with the river providing a critical transport link to move goods to London and beyond. This meant the river frontage was largely industrial, including warehouses along the riverbank where the law courts now stand, and a number of wharfs for loading and unloading goods. The remains of one of these can still be seen between the Law Courts and the Lockmeadow building.
Maidstone Market
Maidstone has always been a market town, gaining a grant in 1261 for markets every Thursday at Peter’s Field, then moving to the High Street, which remained the market place for the town until the late 19th century.
By the 17th century Maidstone was described as the ‘principle market town in the county’. The whole length of the High Street had already been occupied by various markets by the mid-16th century. By the early 17th century, cloth sales had been lost to London (because of a Parliamentary decision). However, the grain market had increased in importance, having strong links to London traders. The corn market moved from Corn Cross to the arcaded ground floor of the 1608 Court House, the fish market from the lower end of Middle Row to the Old Corn Cross, and the vegetable market to the old fish market site. The lower end of Middle Row also provided the home for the butter market, housed in a small, round building. Fruit and hop markets were introduced, and in 1682 Maidstone was granted the right to hold a monthly cattle market which took place in Earl’s Lane, which was renamed Bullock Lane as a result.
River trade in general expanded greatly in the 17th century, particularly important commodities being canons, canon balls, timber, corn, stone, hay, hops, wool and leather. A town charter of 1619 enabled the corporation to charge tolls on all vessels berthing at Maidstone, and Acts of Parliament in 1628 and 1644 sought to improve the navigation of the Medway by way of locks, towpaths and dredging.
In the 1720s, Daniel Defoe declared Maidstone market the best in England, with a wide variety of goods going to London including bullocks, timber, corn, hops, paving stones, sand and apples.
In 1739 the Medway Navigation Company was set up to deal with improvements to the river so that by the late 18th century the whole of the Weald and much of Sussex received their groceries via Maidstone.
By the latter part of the 18th century the old market arrangements in the High Street were causing traffic congestion, and a new market hall for fish and vegetables was erected. The old Court House nearby was replaced by the current Town Hall in 1764, which originally retained an open arcaded ground floor for market traders.
In 1824 it was decided to concentrate the corn, fish, meat and vegetable markets into the same place and remove them from the streets. A new market building was erected in 1826 but was not a great success, being described as “cold and dark” by contemporaries. It was soon replaced, in 1835, by the present Corn Exchange which had a covered market on the ground floor. The Corn Exchange itself was, at the time of its erection, the largest in Kent.
The livestock markets were also banned from the streets in 1824, moving first to Penenden Heath and Fairmeadow and eventually to Lockmeadow in 1879. The livestock market moved from Lockmeadow to the Detling Aerodrome site in the late 1990s when the site was redeveloped to create the Lockmeadow Entertainment Complex. However a Market Hall was retained on the site to house the town’s regular weekly market, which continues to this day operating on Tuesdays and Saturdays throughout the year.
