Coxheath

Although there is little evidence of early settlement, nearby Boughton Monchelsea was the site of a Roman quarry.

In the 16th century, the strategic position of the ridge determined its choice for one of the sites in the network of beacons erected in the year of the Armada of 1588. The first known site of a beacon was on the ridge near what are known today as Amsbury Road and Westerhill Road.

Aside from this, until the eighteenth century the heath was a deserted tract of land that was the haunt of highwaymen. During the 1720s the land started to be used as a venue for cricket matches, becoming known as Coxheath Common cricket ground. This remained the area's main use until 1756, when, with the start of the Seven Years' War, it suddenly became a huge military camp, with 12,000 Hanoverian and Hessian troops quartered there.

Its former sinister reputation soon gave way to a new one - for the number of duels to be fought there, usually over the ladies of nearby Maidstone. The county town had mixed views about the camp. The business community was inclined, on the whole, to be forbearing about the disadvantages, but feelings ran high once or twice between Maidstone Corporation and the military authorities about which should exercise the right to punish soldiers who misbehaved themselves in the town's confines.

Inspired by the Prussian army of Frederick the Great which carried out manoeuvres whereby units "fought" against each other and who became the standard by which other European armies measured themselves, the British decided to hold mock battles themselves. Motivated at the time by fear of invasion from France, a number of training camps were established in southern England to allow raw militia and regular troops to train for what seemed an inevitable clash. One site chosen was Coxheath.

The Westminster Magazine covered the events at one such camp held there during the summers of 1778 and 1779. By all accounts, this camp was on a massive scale involving 17,000 troops as well as civilians, many representing the 700 retailers who had come from London to service the soldiers.[6] On 18 September 1778 a mock battle was held on Barming Heath with the Grenadiers, Light Infantry and Dragoons involved.

The camp was the scene of several big reviews of troops by visiting dignitaries, including one by the King himself, George III, and his Queen Charlotte in 1778. The king made it an occasion to knight the Mayor of Maidstone, William Bishop, before he left, which probably did something to reduce the friction between the camp and the nearby town. The last important cricket match was played in 1789, the year of the French Revolution.

It is believed that the nursery rhyme "The Grand old Duke of York", was set in the barracks and the hill involved was one of Linton Hill, Westerhill or Vanity Lane. Soon after the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, most of the troops were discharged. The army encampment was closed in 1815 by an Act of Parliament and then in 1817 the heath was enclosed by local landowners, removing the right of villagers to use it.

Heath Road (now designated as the B2163) which bisects the village, runs in an absolutely straight line for over 2 miles (although the majority of this section of the road resides within neighbouring Boughton Monchelsea and Linton). The very straight course of this road is the direct result of work by the military engineers.[7]

The enactment of the new Poor Law in 1834, led to the creation of the "Coxheath Poor Law Union" in 1835, more commonly known simply as the Coxheath Union. This union also involved many of the other local parishes. A reluctant Maidstone was finally coerced into joining in 1836,[8] bringing the number of parishes involved to 15 and leading to the union's name being officially changed to the Maidstone Union (although contemporary references appear to show that the Coxheath Union name remained in general use).

The Maidstone Union Workhouse was built in 1836 at a site to the south of Heath Road, replacing a smaller workhouse built near the junction of Heath Road and Stockett Lane in 1771.[9][10] By the mid-19th century when Kent was producing half of the entire national crop and something like 50,000 acres (200 km²) were under cultivation, thousands of Londoners were travelling into Kent in search of work in the hop gardens. Eventually, supply outstripped demand and many arrived in the countryside only to be told they were not required. Hungry and destitute, they threw themselves on the mercy of the union house-keepers. In 1867 the workhouse was home for 600 to 700 people.[11]

The modern civil parish was created in 1964 from areas formerly within the parishes of East Farleigh and Linton (and to a lesser extent areas from Hunton and Loose),[12] the timing coinciding with large scale housing developments in the village.

The old workhouse was incorporated into Linton Hospital, though this, in the mid-1990s, finally closed and was demolished.