Maidstone. Maidstone is a town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it with Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river carried much of the town's trade as the centre of the agricultural county of Kent, known as the Garden of England. There is evidence of settlement in the area dating back before the Stone Age. The town, part of the borough of Maidstone, had a population of 113,137 in 2011. There has been a shift in the town's economy since the Second World War away from heavy industry towards light industry and services. Saxon charters of about 975 show the first recorded instances of the town's name, de maeides stana and maegdan stane, possibly meaning stone of the maidens or stone of the people. The latter meaning may refer to the nearby megalith around which gatherings took place. The name evolved through medestan/meddestane in the Domesday Book with possible variation Mayndenstan, in 1396. The modern name appeared by 1610. It has been suggested that the name derives from stones set into the river to allow clothes to be rinsed in the cleaner water away from the banks. Main article: History of Maidstone Neolithic finds have revealed the earliest occupation of the area, and the Romans have left their mark in the road through the town and evidence of villas. The Normans set up a shire moot, and religious organisations established an abbey at Boxley, hospitals and a college for priests. Today's suburb of Penenden Heath was a place of execution in medieval times. Maidstone played a key role during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. The rebel priest John Ball had been imprisoned there and was freed by Kentish rebels under the command of Wat Tyler, who is reputed to have been a resident of the town. Maidstone's charter as a town was granted in 1549; although briefly revoked, a new charter in 1551 created the town as a borough. The charter was ratified in 1619 under James I, and the coat of arms was designed, bearing a golden lion and a representation of the river. Recently to these arms were added the head of a white horse, a golden lion and an iguanodon. The iguanodon relates to the discovery in the 19th century of the fossilised remains of that dinosaur, now in the Natural History Museum in London. Maidstone has had the right to a town gaol since 1604. During the English Civil War, the Battle of Maidstone took place in 1648, resulting in a victory for the Parliamentarians. Andrew Broughton, who was Mayor of Maidstone in 1649 was responsible for declaring the death sentence on Charles I, and today a plaque in Maidstone Town Centre memorialises Broughton as 'Mayor and Regicide '. Paper mills, stone quarrying, brewing and the cloth industry have all flourished here. The paper maker James Whatman and his son invented wove paper at Turkey Mill from 1740, an important development in the history of printing. A permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of cavalry barracks in 1798. Invicta Park Barracks is now home to the 36 Engineer Regiment. Maidstone Prison is north of the town centre and was completed in 1819. 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. On 29 September 1975 a local pub serving Invicta Park Barracks, The Hare and Hounds, was damaged by a bomb during an IRA campaign in England. Maidstone General Hospital opened on the outskirts of the town in 1983, replacing West Kent General Hospital, which opened 150 years earlier in Marsham Street. It is just to the north of Oakwood Hospital, which closed in the mid-1990s. Residents are employed in the retail, administrative or service sectors; there are industrial estates around the town providing employment. Some of the workforce commute to other towns, including to London. The town is divided between the constituencies of Maidstone and the Weald and Faversham and Mid Kent. Before 1997 Maidstone was in the county constituency of Maidstone. The Member of Parliament for Maidstone and the Weald is Conservative Helen Grant. Previous MPs include Ann Widdecombe, Sir John Wells, Sir Alfred Bossom and Benjamin Disraeli. Since 2015 the MP for Faversham and Mid Kent has been Conservative Helen Whately.