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MidKent College
MidKent College (formerly Mid-Kent College of Higher and Further Education) is a further education college in Kent, England. It runs courses from two separate campuses in Maidstone and Medway, including a number of higher education courses. There are approximately 8,500 students aged 16 years and upwards enrolled at the college. Courses offered range from pre-entry level to degree level and cover a wide range of vocational and academic subject areas.
The college has been delivering vocational education in Medway and Maidstone for nearly 100 years. Its roots lie in the technical institutes established within the Medway towns in the 1890s and Maidstone around 1918. The college first began delivering courses from the Horsted Centre in Chatham in 1954. The site was opened as Medway College of Technology by the Prince Philip on 5 April the following year. Medway College of Technology and Maidstone Technical College amalgamated in 1966 to become Medway and Maidstone College of Technology. The purpose-built City Way site in Rochester was subsequently opened as an additional college site in 1968.
The college changed its name to Mid-Kent College of Higher and Further Education in 1978, before dropping the hyphen and space and the latter part of its title to become MidKent College in October 2008.Throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s, the college's students were famed for their Rag Day parade. This saw them conducting a carnival procession through the Medway Towns. The parade started at Gillingham railway station and ended at the esplanade in Rochester. Each year the students elected their own "Rag Day Queen" to head the procession.
MidKent College's Medway Campus in Gillingham, located on Prince Arthur Road, became the college’s main site in September 2009, replacing the former Horsted and City Way campuses. The £86 million project, mostly funded by the Learning and Skills Council, began construction in 2007. The campus was officially opened by Princess Anne on 25 March 2010. The campus was designed to meet contemporary vocational training needs (including media, IT, science and engineering workshops) and won planning clearance after archaeological surveys. During construction, workers uncovered a unique Napoleonic-era “listening post” (a domed ‘igloo’ intended to detect tunnelling) which was carefully preserved in place.
The Gillingham site lies on part of Chatham’s historic Great Lines defensive earthworks (the old “Lower Lines” field-of-fire). Planning documents note that the land had been “used by the military over the years for…[siege] works up to and including the First World War”. Archaeological evidence of the old defences and training works remain on site (including ruins of small buildings and two brick cottages). In recent decades, when not used as training grounds, the overgrown tract served as council-owned open space (Lower Lines) adjacent to Brompton Barracks.
MidKent College’s Maidstone Campus is a further and higher education campus of MidKent College, located at Oakwood Park on Tonbridge Road, south of Maidstone town centre. The campus serves several thousand students each year, offering vocational and academic courses up to degree level (through University Centre Maidstone on site). The site sits within the historic Oakwood Park estate, whose 19th-century mansion (Oakwood House) and grounds have long been repurposed for education and community uses.
The Oakwood Park estate originated as a Victorian mansion estate. Oakwood House, on the north side of the site, was built in 1869 by Lewis Davis Wigan. The Wigan family – of banking and hop-merchants – developed the property and grounds. After World War II, Kent County Council purchased Oakwood Park from the Wigan estate in October 1948. In the following decades, portions of the park were used for various community purposes (such as a golf course and military exercises during WWII), but notably the Council also established educational facilities there. Oakwood House itself was later used as a hotel, conference and training centre, and as of 2023 was renovated as offices for multiple county services.
By the mid-20th century, the Oakwood Park campus had become an education hub. In the 1960s the site hosted Maidstone Technical School for Boys. The grounds soon accommodated two main further-education colleges: Maidstone College of Technology and Maidstone College of Art. The Maidstone College of Art traced its origins to an art class opened in 1867 in Maidstone town, and this college eventually relocated to the Oakwood Park site in 1969. (Its legacy continued through later institutions: in 1987 it became part of the Kent Institute of Art & Design, and in 2005 part of the University College for the Creative Arts, which became the University for the Creative Arts.) Meanwhile, Maidstone College of Technology operated on Oakwood Park throughout the late 20th century. These two colleges (the art college and the technical college) were later incorporated into MidKent College.
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MidKent College
MidKent College (formerly Mid-Kent College of Higher and Further Education) is a further education college in Kent, England. It runs courses from two separate campuses in Maidstone and Medway, including a number of higher education courses. There are approximately 8,500 students aged 16 years and upwards enrolled at the college. Courses offered range from pre-entry level to degree level and cover a wide range of vocational and academic subject areas.
The college has been delivering vocational education in Medway and Maidstone for nearly 100 years. Its roots lie in the technical institutes established within the Medway towns in the 1890s and Maidstone around 1918. The college first began delivering courses from the Horsted Centre in Chatham in 1954. The site was opened as Medway College of Technology by the Prince Philip on 5 April the following year. Medway College of Technology and Maidstone Technical College amalgamated in 1966 to become Medway and Maidstone College of Technology. The purpose-built City Way site in Rochester was subsequently opened as an additional college site in 1968.
The college changed its name to Mid-Kent College of Higher and Further Education in 1978, before dropping the hyphen and space and the latter part of its title to become MidKent College in October 2008.Throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s, the college's students were famed for their Rag Day parade. This saw them conducting a carnival procession through the Medway Towns. The parade started at Gillingham railway station and ended at the esplanade in Rochester. Each year the students elected their own "Rag Day Queen" to head the procession.
MidKent College's Medway Campus in Gillingham, located on Prince Arthur Road, became the college’s main site in September 2009, replacing the former Horsted and City Way campuses. The £86 million project, mostly funded by the Learning and Skills Council, began construction in 2007. The campus was officially opened by Princess Anne on 25 March 2010. The campus was designed to meet contemporary vocational training needs (including media, IT, science and engineering workshops) and won planning clearance after archaeological surveys. During construction, workers uncovered a unique Napoleonic-era “listening post” (a domed ‘igloo’ intended to detect tunnelling) which was carefully preserved in place.
The Gillingham site lies on part of Chatham’s historic Great Lines defensive earthworks (the old “Lower Lines” field-of-fire). Planning documents note that the land had been “used by the military over the years for…[siege] works up to and including the First World War”. Archaeological evidence of the old defences and training works remain on site (including ruins of small buildings and two brick cottages). In recent decades, when not used as training grounds, the overgrown tract served as council-owned open space (Lower Lines) adjacent to Brompton Barracks.
MidKent College’s Maidstone Campus is a further and higher education campus of MidKent College, located at Oakwood Park on Tonbridge Road, south of Maidstone town centre. The campus serves several thousand students each year, offering vocational and academic courses up to degree level (through University Centre Maidstone on site). The site sits within the historic Oakwood Park estate, whose 19th-century mansion (Oakwood House) and grounds have long been repurposed for education and community uses.
The Oakwood Park estate originated as a Victorian mansion estate. Oakwood House, on the north side of the site, was built in 1869 by Lewis Davis Wigan. The Wigan family – of banking and hop-merchants – developed the property and grounds. After World War II, Kent County Council purchased Oakwood Park from the Wigan estate in October 1948. In the following decades, portions of the park were used for various community purposes (such as a golf course and military exercises during WWII), but notably the Council also established educational facilities there. Oakwood House itself was later used as a hotel, conference and training centre, and as of 2023 was renovated as offices for multiple county services.
By the mid-20th century, the Oakwood Park campus had become an education hub. In the 1960s the site hosted Maidstone Technical School for Boys. The grounds soon accommodated two main further-education colleges: Maidstone College of Technology and Maidstone College of Art. The Maidstone College of Art traced its origins to an art class opened in 1867 in Maidstone town, and this college eventually relocated to the Oakwood Park site in 1969. (Its legacy continued through later institutions: in 1987 it became part of the Kent Institute of Art & Design, and in 2005 part of the University College for the Creative Arts, which became the University for the Creative Arts.) Meanwhile, Maidstone College of Technology operated on Oakwood Park throughout the late 20th century. These two colleges (the art college and the technical college) were later incorporated into MidKent College.
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