Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, 32 miles (51 km) southeast of London. The River Medway runs through centre of the town. Traditionally Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural county of Kent, known as the Garden of England. Conservative Ann Widdecombe is MP for Maidstone & The Weald. There is evidence of a settlement in the area dating back to the Stone Age. In 2001, the town had a population of 75,000. Stone Age finds have been made locally, but it was the Romans who first gave Maidstone importance. Their road from Watling Street at Rochester to Hastings across the Weald passed through the site, and two villas have been discovered. They were also among the first to extract stone (the sandstone known as Kentish ragstone) from the area. This part of the Medway Valley was important too, by the time of Domesday Book. Heathland to the north of the town (today the suburb of Penenden Heath) was the site of shire moots or regional assemblies and the location of a key trial in the years immediately following the Norman Conquest. In the Middle Ages there were two hospitals here built for the care of wayfarers, especially those on pilgrimage; and a “college” of secular priests. More on Maidstone 

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