Maidenstone, Kent, England should be Maidstone, yes? [closed]

Question

I'm out of my depth with English geography, much less its categorization. I just adopted the profile for Elizabeth (Fryer) Fisher, which says that she was born in "Maidenstone", Kent, England. When I went to add a location category to her profile, I didn't find Maidenstone, but I did find [[Category: Maidstone, Kent]]. Is that the right category for her profile?

Answer 1

Hi Elizabeth,

Judging by the profile, yes, Maidstone is the correct name of the location, and Maidstone, Kent is the correct category. There isn't a place in Kent called Maidenstone.

Comments

Today's Trivia: Did you know that Brighton, Sussex, England used to be called 'Brighthelmstone'? 'Brighton' started to appear in the 17th century, but 'Brighthelmstone' was the official name right up until 1810...

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Thanks Ros... curious - does that have anything to do with Maidstone or Elizabeth (Fryer) Fisher?

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Thanks Roy! I've updated her profile & closed the question.

Cheers, Liz

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@Liz: just wondering if the Brighthelmstone/Brighton thing happened to Maidstone, too - it is recorded as Mayndenstone in 1396.

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Looks like it Ros. Here's the ref  from 1395 /6 

https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A36798.0001.001/1:14.4.39?rgn=div3;view=fulltext

And one from the reign of Henry VI so whilst the category would be Maidstone, Maidenstone  or Maidestone would also be  correct as historical names.https://www.british-history.ac.uk/ancient-deeds/vol2/pp308-317

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aha! so... Maidstone, Kent for the category, but since she was born there in 1473, it should be, um, what? The spellings are all over the place. Unless/until a birth record is found, I decided to leave it as Maidstone & added Research Notes.