All Saints Church, Maidstone

Founded by the Archbishop of Canterbury William Courtenay in 1395 as part of a new College of All Saints, the church replaced an earlier one on the site dedicated to St Mary. Courtenay died in 1396, and the church and college were completed by his successor, Thomas Arundel, between 1396 and 1398. To cover the cost of building the college, Courtenay obtained a bull to levy a charge of fourpence in the pound on all ecclesiastical revenue raised in his archbishopric. When the college was closed in 1546 following the passing of the Chantries Act, its annual income was valued at £208 6s 2d (). The church and the college were separated. The church became the parish church for the whole of…

The church sits in a small churchyard with the River Medway to the west, the remnants of the college, including its gateway, to the south, the Archbishop's Palace to the north-west and the palace's tithe barn to the north-east. The medieval wall along the north and west sides of the churchyard, as well as the Monckton War Memorial located within the churchyard, are both individually designated as Grade II listed structures. The church is built of ragstone in the Perpendicular style with buttressed walls and a crenellated parapet. The tower is on the south-west corner and is 78 ft tall. It formerly had a spire, which was destroyed by a lightning strike in 1730. He was also the stepfather of…