History - Mill Street, Maidstone

At the time of the Domesday Survey, Maidstone had six mills; at least one of these was probably located on Mill Street. Certainly the Medieval Archbishops’ mills were sited here, and the stretch of water between Palace Avenue and Rootes Garage is the old millpond.

Mills have generated a major part of Maidstone’s growth over the centuries. Agricultural mills  developed, then some changed to fulling mills with the discovery of Fullers Earth, which helped with the process of cleaning wool. In later years, some mills were converted to produce paper. The most famous of these was Whatman Paper Mill, which is approximately ½ mile upstream from this point.

In the 19^th century, a large tannery was established in Mill Street, adjacent to the mill pond, and there were still two mills – one on the west side of the road straddling the River Len, and one on the east side near the present junction with Palace Avenue.

At the start of the 20^th century, prior to the First World War, substantial changes were made to Maidstone’s streets through the creation of an electric tram service. Mill Street was widened to facilitate tram links to Loose and Tovil, and Palace Avenue was created to link with Lower Stone Street.

The whole eastern side of Mill Street was demolished to accommodate the new tram line, including the large 3-storeyed weatherboarded mill spanning the Len, together with a 3-storeyed double-jettied building of probably 16^th century date adjacent to it on the west side of the road.

In 1917, William Rootes took over the old tannery site and converted it into the Len Engineering Works, first used for repairing aero engines and then also for building charabancs. Rootes developed into a major motor wholesaler and the country’s largest motor retailer. In 1928 the Head Office was moved to London and manufacturing in Mill Street ceased, leaving just a distribution and service centre.

Towards the end of the 1930s, the Mill Street premises were redeveloped to create large and impressive state-of-the-art showrooms and workshops. The building is now being redeveloped once more into a mixed use site which will include accommodation and retail outlets.

During the Second World War, Mill Street suffered bomb damage which resulted in the destruction of a number of historic buildings on the west side of the road.