Until the early 1980s, the main venue for criminal court hearings in Maidstone was the County Hall.

[1] However, as the number of court cases in the Maidstone area grew, it became necessary to commission a more modern courthouse for criminal matters: the site selected by the Lord Chancellor's Department, on the north east side of Barker Road, had been occupied by a timber yard with a river wharf.

[2][3][4] The new building was designed by Austin-Smith:Lord in the Modernist style, built in concrete at a cost of £10.2 million,[5] and was completed in 1983.

The ground floor was faced with red brick and fenestrated by a continuous row of casement windows.

[8] Notable cases include the trial and conviction of Jeremy Wing and Brian Hogg, in November 2002, for child sex offences, for which they received whole life orders.