Maidstone Town Hall is a municipal building in Middle Row, Maidstone, Kent, England. The town hall, which is a meeting place of Maidstone Borough Council, is a Grade II* listed building.[1]

Maidstone Town Hall
Maidstone Town Hall in 2013
LocationMiddle Row, Maidstone
Coordinates51°16′24″N 0°31′20″E / 51.2734°N 0.5221°E / 51.2734; 0.5221
Built1763
Architectural style(s)Neoclassical style
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official nameThe Town Hall
Designated30 July 1951
Reference no.1086305
Maidstone Town Hall is located in Kent
Maidstone Town Hall
Shown in Kent

History

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The first courthouse in the town was erected, for the purposes of hearings of the quarter sessions and assizes, in the Middle Row in 1587.[2] Civic leaders held their meetings in a room on the first floor the lower courthouse.[3] In 1608, a second courthouse, which known as the "upper courthouse", was erected a few yards to the east of the original courthouse, which was subsequently referred to as the "lower courthouse".[4] The upper courthouse was generally used for the assizes while the quarter sessions continued to held in the lower courthouse.[5]

In the late 18th century civic leaders decided to erect a new town hall on the site of the lower courthouse which was duly demolished in 1759. [6][a] The new town hall was financed from a combination of public subscription and contributions from the justices.[8] It was designed in the neoclassical style, built with Portland stone on the ground floor and red brick above and was completed in 1763.[1][9] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto the High Street; it originally had arcading on the ground floor to allow markets to be held; a council chamber with pedimented windows was established on the first floor.[1] The central section of three bays, which slightly projected forward, was topped with a pediment from which a clock projected.[1] There was a cupola with Ionic order columns, which was capped with a gilded ball and a weather vane, at roof level.[1] Internally, the principal room was the council chamber, which featured a fine Rococo ceiling.[1] A prison cell was established above the council chamber: prisoners who were detained there while awaiting deportation applied graffiti to the walls.[10] The gaol was closed in around 1827, apparently after the escape of a prisoner being held there,[11] and the arcading on the ground floor was enclosed to create a police court sometime after 1835.[12]

By 1898, the town hall was already too small for the needs of the growing town, with the local directory stating that the building was "a miserable specimen of the poverty-stricken architecture of those days, possessing no room adequate to the needs of a large town, and necessitating the scattering of the offices of the Corporation."[12] However, the town hall remained the main meeting place of Maidstone Municipal Borough Council until council offices were established at Tonbridge Road in the 1960s,[13] and the council chamber in the town hall is still used by its successor body, Maidstone Borough Council, for committee meetings.[14]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ The upper courthouse was also in a very poor state and it was demolished in 1783.[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Historic England. "The Town Hall (1086305)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  2. ^ Russell, J. M. (1881). The History of Maidstone. Simpkin. p. 277.
  3. ^ Russell 1881, p. 207
  4. ^ Russell 1881, p. 279
  5. ^ Russell 1881, p. 281
  6. ^ Russell 1881, p. 287
  7. ^ Russell 1881, p. 329
  8. ^ Clark, Peter; Murfin, Lyn (1995). "Chapter 5: The Late Georgian Town". The History of Maidstone: The Making of a Modern County Town. Alan Sutton Publishing. p. 106. ISBN 978-0750911030.
  9. ^ Hasted, Edward (1798). "'The town and parish of Maidstone: Town and manors', in The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent". Canterbury: British History Online. pp. 260–307. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  10. ^ "Maidstone Town Hall – Historic Site in Maidstone". Visit Maidstone. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  11. ^ "Maidtone Town Gaol". Prison History. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  12. ^ a b "Maidstone Town Centre Conservation Area Appraisal" (PDF). Maidstone Borough Council. p. 63. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  13. ^ "No. 45222". The London Gazette. 30 October 1970. p. 12026.
  14. ^ "Maidstone Borough Council events page". Retrieved 30 December 2020.