The Gatehouse website record for Maidstone Mote House

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Maydenstan; Shoford Maideston

In the civil parish of Maidstone. In the historic county of Kent (Modern Authority of Kent, 1974 county of Kent).

Leland c1540 mentions a castle in good repair, but this most probably refers to the Archbishop's palace (qv). Mote House is a Country house built near the site of C14 castellated manor house which was demolished circa 1800. Hasted clearly identifies this as the same as Shoford manor. There are no remains at Mote Park other than the listed C19 house. 'Shoford', was granted a licence, to William Topclyve, in 1382, after it had been leveled by insurgents. Coulson writes, of the 1382 licence, "William's involvement with the sheriff and the cathedral probably explains why his house was the target of popular vindictiveness. When it was all over he may, of course, have felt that a substantial stone-built, crenellated new house (perhaps with parapets to protect the roof) would reduce the risk of arson and afford him more security in the future. But such dwellings were frequently (in fact, normally) built without any licence to crenellate. Without doubt, the function of the licence to William was to reaffirm his status and his association with the great. It was an emphatic and demonstrative response to the menu peuple who had dared to resent and attack his standing." (Coulson 1982)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TQ78135497

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 415708
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is TQ 75 SE 28 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.
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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.