Maidstone East railway station to platform 1 shows the alignment of a former bay platform. A third track runs as a passing track through the station between the up and down lines. A pedestrian walkway on the railway bridge provides a route to the Medway Valley Line's Maidstone Barracks station on the west of the river. Maidstone's third station, Maidstone West, is south of Maidstone Barracks. There have been plans to redevelop the station for a number of years. In 2005 Network Rail announced that they were in talks with the John Lewis Partnership who intended to build a large Waitrose supermarket on the
History of Rochester, Kent crossing the river near Maidstone thus provoking the Battle of Maidstone. By the time Fairfax approached Rochester Lord Norwich had marched off towards London, and Rochester itself was spared a battle. The bridge did not get off as lightly as the town however, the retreating Royalists destroyed the drawbridge section of the bridge and threw the planks into the river. In another contrasting pair of events, Rochester houses saw one king restored and another abdicate. Sir Francis Clarke entertained King Charles II on the eve of his restoration to the throne on 20 May 1660. Following this, his home in