A plaque commemorating a climactic battle during the English Civil War was unveiled in Maidstone today - 369 years after the event.

On June 1, 1648 outnumbered Royalist rebels attempted to defend the County Town against a force of 8,000 veteran Parliamentarians, culminating in a bloody last stand in the grounds of St Faith’s Church.

But there was nothing in what is now called Brenchley Gardens to mark this momentous part of local history.

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Deputy mayor David Naghi (Lib Dem) unveiled the plaque in a brief ceremony near Maidstone Museum this morning.

The memorial is a black granite plaque on a ragstone plinth. It is embellished with an engraving of the battle, an extract by cavalier poet Richard Lovelace, and oak leaves, commonly used during the war to differentiate friend from foe.

It was created at a cost of £7,000 by Cllr Gordon Newton (Indp) of The Stone Shop in East Farleigh. He previously worked on the Battle of Britain Memorial in Capel-le-Ferne, near Dover.

An inscription reads: “This stone marks the last stand of the Royalist Defenders of Maidstone on the storm-lashed night of 1st June 1648. It serves as a memorial to all those who lost their lives on that long and blood-soaked day.”

Cllr Tony Harwood (Lib Dem) has long campaigned for the memorial, which was approved by the council's cabinet in 2014.

He said: “Many local residents will never imagine that 369 years ago to the day the streets of Maidstone were a battlefield- one of the most hard-fought and bloody battles of the Second English Civil War.

"We are a growing town and as new residents move in it is really, really important they understand where the came from and what forged the crucible of this town.

“Maidstone was very significant during the Civil War. The petition in favour of Parliament was torn up in Maidstone Market by the cavalier poet Richard Lovelace in 1641.

"The Battle of Maidstone in 1648 along with the wider Kentish rebellion [would eventually] lead to King Charles I losing his head and then a year later in 1649 the mayor of Maidstone Andrew Broughton actually signed his death warrant.”

Kent has a long history of famous rebellions, but few more so than the insurrection which swept through the county in 1648, sparking what is sometimes called the Second English Civil War.

The cause was in part Parliament’s decision to attempt to curtail traditional Christmas celebrations, and the county committee at Canterbury’ bid to quash a petition calling for the return of King Charles I and the dissolution of the New Model Army.

Rebels seized towns across Kent, including Maidstone and an army began to gather on Penenden Heath under the leadership of Earl of Norwich.

Parliamentary general Sir Thomas Fairfax marched his force of seasoned veterans south and found the County Town garrisoned by 3,000 Royalists and heavily barricaded.

Video: Deputy mayor David Naghi unveils new memorial at in Brenchley Gardens

The battle began with ‘hedge to hedge’ skirmishes at East Farleigh Bridge and then Penenden Heath, followed by brutal street battles fought house to house towards Gabriels Hill, then Week Street before a last desperate stand and break-out from St Faith’s Churchyard at around 11pm, as a storm lashed the county.

Around 300, Royalists were killed, 1,000 captured. The parliamentarians lost around 80 men. The bulk of the Royalist forces were poorly trained and equipped, took no part in the battle and later melted away.

In the wake of the battle Maidstone was stripped of one of its two MPs as punishment for supporting the insurrection against Parliament’s harsh Puritan rule.

To this day musket balls and other remnants of the battle are found in Penenden Heath, and there is a plaque detail the battle in Bank Street.

For more on the history of the rebellion, visit: bcw-project.org/military/second-civil-war/kent-essex