History - All Saints Church, the Horseway, College of Saints

All Saints Church

The main parish church of Maidstone occupies the site of St. Mary’s Church which in Saxon times was an important minister with up to 17 daughter churches.  St. Mary’s was probably founded in the 7^th Century and was an important church at the time of the Domesday Survey.

In 1395, Archbishop Courtenay received the authority of Pope Boniface IX to make the parish church collegiate (i.e. serviced by a body of clerics living in a residential college and supported by endowment) and the church was subsequently rebuilt to become what has been called “the grandest Perpendicular church in Kent”.

Building of the new church started in June 1396 when Archbishop Courtenay received Royal permission to conscript 48 local masons. Unlike many parish churches which have evolved over time, All Saints is a symmetrical piece of architecture, designed as an entity.  It may be the work of the master mason Henry Yevele (one of the few Medieval “architects” known to us by name) who was working on Canterbury Cathedral at the time. The Church was complete in 1398, and has remained, externally, little changed since. Although it did formerly possess a spire which was burned down after being struck by lightning in November 1730.

The interior is well worth a visit and contains many fine tombs and monuments. 

The Horseway

The end of Kinghtrider Street, “The Horseway”, which separates All Saints Church from The College, leads steeply down to the original crossing point of the river by ford or ferry, and linked to the Archbishop’s Park in Lockmeadow.  This route is probably prehistoric or Roman in date.  Lockmeadow gets its name from the former existence of a lock on this point on the river.

The College of Saints

The college provided a home and a comfortable living for the priets and clergy it used to house. This building has had multiplie uses since its construction in the 1300's.  Currently it is mainly under private ownership however it can be viewed from the outside. The beautiful archway which links it to The Horseway, has a some point been added to.  Unusally it has Maidstone's coat of arms, settled into the old vaulted ceiling. Look up and you will see Maidstone's coat of arms including the dinosaur, which was not discovered until the 1930's.