Image: The “Maid on the Stone” seal is one of the objects on display in the new Oldham Gallery (Maidstone Borough Council)
Museum launches Community Cabinet featuring rotating displays of diverse populations, starting with Polish community focus in new gallery opening July 2025.
Maidstone Museum is to introduce a community engagement model as part of its new gallery plans, featuring a ‘Community Cabinet’ designed to showcase the borough’s diverse populations.
The initiative of rotating displays will begin with a focus on Maidstone’s Polish community, followed by a regular rotation.
The Community Cabinet forms part of the museum’s reimagined Local History Gallery, set to open this summer with 30% more objects than before.
‘The Oldham Gallery: Exploring Maidstone’s Past and Present’ will open on Saturday 19 July 2025.
The gallery has been renamed in honour of Mr Paul Oldham, described as a champion of the museum and an influential Maidstone figure for his political and charitable work.
The expanded gallery will continue the chronological narrative from where ‘Lives In Our Landscape’ concludes at the Tudor period, taking visitors through the county town’s history to the present day. Its redevelopment is supported by feedback from visitors and a donation from The William & Edith Oldham Charitable Trust.
The museum, which is owned and managed by Maidstone Borough Council, has conducted focus groups with visitors to inform the gallery development.
Among featured objects in the new gallery will be a seal depicting a woman standing on a rock, dated from 1567 and used to impress wax on official documents. The seal, which dates to 18 years after Maidstone achieved Town Charter status in 1549, has been identified as potentially significant in understanding the origin of the town’s name through its imagery of a “Maid” on the “Stone”.
Recent conservation work on the seal has involved collaboration with the Kent Archaeological Society and the University of Exeter. Testing revealed the seal is made of silver with high copper content, providing the museum’s collections team with crucial information for conservation and display purposes.
The museum, which is owned and managed by Maidstone Borough Council, has conducted focus groups with visitors to inform the gallery development.
Cllr Stephen Thompson, Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) cabinet member for healthier stronger communities, said: “After the success of ‘Lives In Our Landscape’, it became clear to us at the Museum, the Council and to residents that the full story of Maidstone needed to be told in a space set for the 21st century.
“The “Maid on the Stone” seal is one of the many objects integral to this story, and I am so pleased to see that it is receiving a particular focus in the Oldham Gallery. Many more strands of the history of Maidstone are being included, and if you’ve never been to our museum before, this summer will be the perfect time to make a visit.”
