Thanks again to Roger for the picture and info:
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I really take my hat off to the Maidstone Camera Club for the work that went into this one. The clarity is incredible. On the right of the picture you can see the Dockyard Church and alongside it Naval Terrace. If you follow the horizon along you pass five chimneys, which I'm assuming were the chimneys to the steam engine rooms in the yard. It was the ash and clinker from these that apparently was dumped at the top of Beech Street to form what they called Clinker Park. Was afterwars known as the Paddling Pool and now Beech Field Park? You then come to a solitary chimney and just to the left of that is the shape of the slips where they built the tall ships. You may need a bit of zoom but the picture doesn’t seem to distort which is great.
After the slips you can see the tall masts, but then, with a little more zoom (well I need it if you don’t) you can make out the chequered side of one of the hulks or prison ships. Now just under (in the picture) the hulk, there is quite a prominent building, which I think was a church that was moved from Bluetown. It’s the one with the round spire on top.
Halfway down the picture on the left you can see a quite elaborate white building. When you work out the layout of the buildings you will see that it’s halfway up Wood Street. I know nothing about it other than it was there in my childhood and was used by an Insurance company as their offices. Following Wood Street down to the High Street you see what is now the Kebab shop with the, first in the country, Co-op shop on the opposite corner.
Coming back towards the left along the High Street you come to the large building that fronts Rides Mill. You can see there are four sets of four windows in the front. In the present building there are only three sets of four. The section of building where the present passageway to the Mill is was, at some time, removed. It may have been where the arched passage, that you spoke about, was Kyn. The writing on the front of the building says “Miller and” then “G Ride” after that it’s hidden but I would think its “Seed Merchant” or something like. The style of that building has convinced me it was another Edward or Delamark Banks job.
Apart from all that you can see somebody’s outside loo in the foreground with a little heart cut in the door but we don’t want to go into that do we?
Oh there is the building that was the one before the Wheatsheaf Hall, that could be the Wellington Hall but I’m not sure.
If only Mr Cole had turned his camera just a couple of degrees to the left he would surely have caught the windmill in his lens.
Maybe someone looking at this picture can pick out another prominent feature that I’ve missed if so please say.