A map showing how a village looked more than 270 years ago has been created.

Tom La Dell, a long-time resident of Grafty Green, put it together and about 50 people went to its unveiling.

He used two old original 1752 maps drawn up for the landowner at the time, Nathanial Mason, to help him determine the appropriate rental fees for his farming tenants.

Mr La Dell, a landscape architect, found the maps buried in the Kent County Archives. They detail the land lying on either side of the green, which gave the community its name.

Putting the maps together, it was clear the green stretched from Tudor Cottage to Stream Farm with the Kings Head pub in the centre.

The green was a stop-off point for drovers, as they took their cattle from the spring grazing on the chalk downs to the summer grazing in the low Weald.

The exhibit, which measures around one metre by half a metre, is etched onto an aluminium film base and will now hang proudly in the village hall.

The unveiling was attended by both the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Maidstone, Cllrs John Perry and Martin Round, and by members of the Egerton History Group and the Ulcombe History Society, as well as by Grafty Green villagers.

Mr La Dell gave a short speech explaining what the map represented.

It was unveiled by Mike Hitchins, the editor of the village magazine.

Mr La Dell said: “I was delighted when the village hall chairman Jon Thompson asked me to hang the map in the hall and even more delighted that so many people came along - I really hadn’t expected that level of interest.”