This may well have been a Domesday period mill site. The mill was one of two in Maidstone which belonged to Christ Curch, Canterbury, the other being Church Mill which stood close to the Archbishop's Palace and the conflux of the Len and Medway. By 1650 Padsole had become the property of Sir William Culpeper and "it fell into a delapidated condition towards the end of the last century (ie the 18th) and on the site thereof a paper mill was erected by James Smyth in 1796". In fact Smyth issued a halfpenny token in 1795 which states that Padsole Paper Mill was in existence by 1795. Paper making was carried on for a short time by Smythe in partnership with the Hollingworth brothers who subsequently acquired the property and in 1799 disposed of it to John Wise and John Hayes. In the late 19th century Russell wrote that "the Padsole Mill, after long remaining unoccupied, was demolished ten years ago and rebuilt as a flour mill". (1)

In 1999 KARU carried out an evaluation in advance of the redevelopment of the site. The southern half of the site was found to have been substantially disturbed by landscaping and terracing. In the undisturbed northern half of the site in trench 10 six walls and an early brick culvert were discovered representing three phases of construction. Some of the walls matched the buildings shown on the OS map of 1848. (2)

<1> Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit, 1999, Romney Place, Maidstone, Kent: Report on an Evaluation Excavation (Unpublished document). SKE6581.

<2> Goodsall, R. H., 1958, Watermills on the River Len, Vol LXXl page 126 (Article in serial). SKE8006.