Mote Park
Mote Park is a 440-acre (1.8 km2) multi-use public park in Maidstone, Kent. Previously a country estate it was converted to landscaped park land at the end of the 18th century before becoming a municipal park. It includes the former stately home Mote House together with a miniature railway, pitch and putt golf course and a boating lake. The park has also been used as a cricket ground for the Kent County Cricket Club. The house is set in 450 acres (1.8 km2) of garden landscape and consists of 85 houses and apartments. The park is maintained by Maidstone Borough Council with support from the Mote Park Fellowship, a group of volunteers.
The park's name is derived from 'moot' or 'mote' in Old English meaning "a place of assembly". Its proximity to nearby Penenden Heath (the site of shire moots during the Middle Ages) indicates that it may once have formed part of an administrative region in central Kent.
In the 13th century, the "mote" lands were incorporated into the manor of local landowners and a manor house in the area of the present-day park is described as being castellated (or fortified) with emparked grounds. This is believed to indicate the area was used as one of the earliest deer parks in Kent.
The park is incorporated into royal history as a possession of King Edward IV's consort, Elizabeth Woodville (daughter of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers) and was later raided by Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick angered by the King's marriage. The Woodville family continued to lay claim to the land despite various interventions during the reign of Richard III and Henry VII. On 17 July 1531, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn visited it, before their marriage. Passing to Thomas Wyatt the younger, the estate again returned to the Crown under Queen Elizabeth I before finally passing, in 1690 to the Marsham family, who would later become the Lords Romney.
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