Coxheath

Coxheath is a village and civil parish within the Borough of Maidstone, Kent, England. The parish is approximately 2.5 miles (4 km) south of Maidstone. It is mainly centred along Heath Road which links the villages of Yalding and Boughton Monchelsea to the west and east, respectively. A replica beacon pole and the village coat of arms celebrate the role that the village played as a signal bonfire site for many hundreds of years, although there is little visible evidence today of the area's location as a major army camp in the 18th century. More recently the village was home of a large workhouse that served a large part of mid-Kent during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The workhouse is now gone, although its chapel now serves as the village church. Today, Coxheath is home to one of the South East Coast Ambulance Service's emergency despatch centres for Kent and is twinned with La Séguinière in Maine-et-Loire, France. It was also the birthplace of the World Custard Pie Throwing Championships.