Coxheath
| Coxheath | |
|---|---|
 Coxheath
|
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| Coxheath shown within Kent | |
| Population | 4,082 (2011 Census) |
| OS grid reference | TQ742511 |
| • London | 34 miles (55 km) |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Maidstone |
| Postcode district | ME17 |
| Dialling code | 01622 |
| Police | Kent |
| Fire | Kent |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | |
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 the South East Coast Ambulance Service's emergency despatch centre for Kent and is twinned with La Séguinière in Maine-et-Loire, France. More esoterically, it was also the birthplace of the World Custard Pie Throwing Championships.
Early documentation shows the name of Coxheath as Cokkyshoth (1422 & 1489) and Coxhoth (1585). The nearby Cock Inn (founded 1568) may point to its etymology.
Although there is little evidence of early settlement, nearby Boughton Monchelsea was the site of a Roman quarry.
In the 16th century, the strategic position of the ridge determined its choice for one of the sites in the network of beacons erected in the year of the Armada of 1588. The first known site of a beacon was on the ridge near what are known today as Amsbury Road and Westerhill Road.
Aside from this, until the eighteenth century the heath was a deserted tract of land that was the haunt of highwaymen. During the 1720s the land started to be used as a venue for cricket matches, becoming known as Coxheath Common cricket ground. This remained the area's main use until 1756, when, with the start of the Seven Years' War, it suddenly became a huge military camp, with 12,000 Hanoverian and Hessian troops quartered there.
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Wikipedia