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List of museums in Kent

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This list of museums in Kent, England contains museums which are defined for this context as institutions (including nonprofit organizations, government entities, and private businesses) that collect and care for objects of cultural, artistic, scientific, or historical interest and make their collections or related exhibits available for public viewing. Also included are non-profit art galleries and university art galleries. Museums that exist only in cyberspace (i.e., virtual museums) are not included.

Museums

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To use the sortable table, click on the icons at the top of each column to sort that column in alphabetical order; click again for reverse alphabetical order.

Name Image Town/city Region Type Summary
Agricultural Museum, Brook Brook Ashford Agriculture website, barn and oast house with farm tools, equipment, wagons, operated by the Wye Rural Museum Trust
Ashford Museum Ashford Ashford Local website, local history, archaeology, geology, industry, household artifacts
Beaney House of Art and Knowledge Canterbury City of Canterbury Multiple Known locally as the Beaney Institute or The Beaney, formerly known as the Royal Museum and Art Gallery, includes art, photography, local history
Belmont House and Gardens Throwley Swale Historic house 18th-century Georgian house and gardens, features extensive private collection of clocks
Blue Town Heritage Centre Blue Town Swale Local website, local history, culture, music hall and cinema
Brattle Farm Museum Staplehurst Maidstone Agriculture information, open for groups by appointment only, historic farm equipment, household items, vintage cars
Bredgar and Wormshill Light Railway Bredgar Swale Railway Heritage railroad and museum with steam locomotives, freight and carriage stock, railway artefacts
British Cartoon Archive Canterbury City of Canterbury Art Exhibit gallery of political and social-comment cartoons from British newspapers and magazines, part of the University of Kent
Canterbury Heritage Museum Canterbury City of Canterbury Multiple City history, culture, Rupert the Bear Museum for children
Canterbury Roman Museum Canterbury City of Canterbury Archaeology Artifacts from Roman Britain and reconstructions
Chantry Heritage Centre Gravesend Gravesham Local website, local history, located in a 14th-century chantry
Chart Gunpowder Mills Faversham Swale Industry website, 18th-century gunpowder factory with watermill, one of the sites of the Faversham explosives industry
Chartwell Westerham Sevenoaks Historic house Operated by the National Trust, principal adult home of Sir Winston Churchill, exhibits, paintings and memorabilia, gardens
Chatham Historic Dockyard Chatham Medway Maritime Includes 3 historic warships: HMS Gannet (1878), HMS Cavalier (R73) and HMS Ocelot (S17), a Victorian rope factory, a recreation of the working life of the dockyard in 1758, the Museum of the Royal Dockyard, a museum about the work of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Chiddingstone Castle Chiddingstone Sevenoaks Multiple Medieval style castle, includes Egyptian and Buddhist artefacts, Japanese armour and swords, Jacobean paintings, gardens
Chillenden Windmill Chillenden Dover Mill Reconstructed mid-19th-century windmill
C M Booth Motor Museum Rolvenden Ashford Transportation website, collection of Morgan Motor Company three wheel cars, bicycles, tricycles, model cars, automotive memorabilia
Colonel Stephens Railway Museum Tenterden Ashford Railway History of Colonel H. F. Stephens, manager of the Kent and East Sussex Railway, railway equipment and memorabilia
Court Hall Museum Milton Regis Swale Local website, currently closed, local history, archaeology
Crabble Corn Mill River Dover Mill Georgian and Victorian watermill
Crampton Tower Museum Broadstairs Thanet Multiple website, life and works of railway engineer Thomas Russell Crampton, local railways, electric tramways, road transport, industry, model railways, local history
Cranbrook Museum Cranbrook Tunbridge Wells Local website, local history, culture, rural life artifacts, toys, costumes, household items, art
Dartford Borough Museum Dartford Dartford Local website, local history, culture, archaeology, geology, artifacts of Roman Britain, Anglo-Saxon, Norman and medieval eras
Deal Castle Deal Dover Military Operated by English Heritage, one of Henry VIII's Device Forts
Deal Maritime & Local History Museum Deal Dover Multiple website, local history, maritime heritage
Deal Timeball Tower Museum Deal Dover Maritime Semaphore tower used for navigation aid, exhibits about smuggling, signaling, and the mechanics of the time ball
Dickens House Museum Broadstairs Thanet Biographical information, Charles Dickens memorabilia and Victoriana
Dover Castle Dover Dover Multiple Operated by English Heritage, medieval castle with exhibits about its history, Henry II of England living history tower rooms, secret World War II tunnels
Dover Museum Dover Dover Multiple Local history, culture, archaeology, houses the Dover Bronze Age Boat
Dover Transport Museum Dover Dover Transportation website. cars, bicycles, buses, road vehicles, model railway and tramway, local transport history, model vehicles, maritime display, 1930s garage and period shops, farm vehicles
Draper's Windmill Margate Thanet Mill Mid-19th-century windmill
Dungeness Lighthouse Dungeness Shepway Maritime Lighthouse museum, adjacent to Dungeness railway station
Dymchurch Martello Tower Dymchurch Shepway Military Operated by English Heritage, early 19th-century artillery tower
East Kent Light Railway Shepherdswell Dover Railway Heritage railway and signal box visitor centre with railroad artifacts, model railway
Eastgate House Rochester Medway Multiple 16th-century Elizabethan town house featured as the Nun's House in Charles Dickens’ novel The Pickwick Papers, Dickens' exhibits, changing exhibits of art and local history
Eden Valley Museum Edenbridge Sevenoaks Local Local history, medieval period room, blacksmith and tanning trades, cricket ball making
Elham Valley Line Trust Countryside Centre & Railway Museum Peene Shepway Railway website, history of the Elham Valley Railway, railway artifacts, local history, railway model of the Channel Tunnel
Finchcocks Goudhurst Tunbridge Wells Music Early Georgian manor house with collection of historical keyboard instruments
Fleur de Lis Heritage Centre Faversham Swale Multiple Website, local history, explosives industry, history of Faversham Abbey and Davington Priory, Victorian period schoolroom and kitchen, period store displays, culture, gallery for changing art, history and culture exhibits
Fort Amherst Chatham Medway Military 18th-century fort under restoration, includes World War II exhibit, period re-enactments
Godinton House Ashford Ashford Historic house Jacobean house with medieval hall, gardens
Gravesend's Cold War Bunker Gravesend Gravesham Military website, 1950s Cold War underground nuclear bunker and command center
Guildhall Museum, Rochester GuildhallRochester Rochester, Kent Medway Local Local history, culture, Victorian period drawing room and kitchen, fine art, exhibits on Charles Dickens, and agricultural engine and steam roller manufacturer Aveling and Porter
Herne Windmill Herne City of Canterbury Mill Late-18th-century windmill
Herne Bay Museum and Gallery Herne Bay City of Canterbury Local Local history, culture, archaeology, geology, paleontology, art
Hever Castle Hever Sevenoaks Historic house Medieval country house, childhood home of Anne Boleyn, exhibits from differing historical eras, instruments of torture, Tudor furnishings and history
Hop Farm Country Park Beltring Tonbridge and Malling Multiple Includes Yesterday's Village, a recreation of a bygone village with shops and artefacts on display, a wax museum, Hop Farm Museum with oast houses and exhibits about growing hops
Hythe Library and Museum Hythe Local information, information, library with local history museum
Ightham Mote Ightham Tonbridge and Malling Historic house Operated by the National Trust, medieval moated manor house, gardens
Kent & Sharpshooters Yeomanry Museum Hever Sevenoaks Military website, located at Hever Castle, history and memorabilia of the Kent and Sharpshooters Yeomanry
Kent Battle of Britain Museum Hawkinge Shepway Military History of RAF Hawkinge and the Battle of Britain, World War II aircraft
Kent Life Sandling Maidstone Open air Formerly the Museum of Kent Life, 28-acre (110,000 m2) heritage farm, historic houses, farm and village buildings
Kent Museum of Freemasonry Canterbury City of Canterbury Masonic Masonic history, paintings, glassware, porcelain, regalia
Kent Police Museum Chatham Medway Law enforcement History of the Kent County Constabulary
Killick's Mill Meopham Gravesham Mill Early-19th-century windmill
Knole House Sevenoaks Sevenoaks Historic house Operated by the National Trust, 17th-century country house, birthplace and childhood home of Vita Sackville-West, includes rare furniture, important paintings, gardens
Lashenden Air Warfare Museum Headcorn Maidstone Aviation Located at Lashenden (Headcorn) Airfield, military aircraft and aviation history
Leeds Castle Leeds Maidstone Historic house Former royal palace dating to the 12th century, furnished rooms, moat, aviary, maze, grotto, gardens, dog collar museum, other attractions
Lullingstone Castle Lullingstone Sevenoaks Historic house Medieval manor house and gardens
Lullingstone Roman Villa Eynsford Sevenoaks Archaeology Operated by English Heritage, excavated Roman villa artifacts
Lydd Town Museum Lydd Shepway Local information, local history
Maidstone Museum & Art Gallery Maidstone Maidstone Multiple Local history, natural history, geology, archaeology, ethnography, fine and decorative art, Ancient Egyptian artifacts, costumes, Japanese decorative arts and prints, Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment Museum
Maison Dieu Faversham Swale Archaeology Operated by English Heritage, 13th-century wayside hospital housing area Roman artifacts
Margate Museum Margate Thanet Local website, local history and culture, located in a former Victorian police station and magistrates court
Mascalls Gallery Paddock Wood Tunbridge Wells Art Includes national and international art exhibits
Minster Abbey Gatehouse Museum Minster Swale Local website, local history, culture
New Hall Museum Dymchurch Shepway Local information, local history
New Mill Willesborough Ashford Mill Mid-19th-century windmill, also houses the Norman Museum
Norman Museum Willesborough Ashford Transportation Mopeds, motorcycles and bicycles manufactured by Norman Cycles, located at New Mill
New Tavern Fort Gravesend Gravesham Military Remains of an 18th-century fort, guns from 1904, vaults, magazines, World War II displays
Old Brook Pumping Station Chatham Medway Technology 1920s pumping station with two diesel engines, exhibits of local industrial equipment
Old Soar Manor Borough Green Tonbridge and Malling Historic house Operated by the English Heritage, small 13th-century stone manor house
Otford Heritage Centre Otford Sevenoaks Local information, local history
Owletts Cobham Gravesham Historic house Operated by the National Trust, Charles II house and garden, home of the architect Sir Herbert Baker
Penshurst Place Penshurst Sevenoaks Historic house Medieval mansion and gardens, state rooms, tapestries, arms and armour, toy museum
Powell-Cotton Museum Birchington-on-Sea Thanet Multiple Includes the 19th-century Regency-period Quex House, museum exhibits of wildlife dioramas, African cultural objects, firearms and cutting weapons, area archaeological artifacts, and porcelain from China and Europe collected by the family, Victorian gardens
Princess of Wales Royal Regiment Museum Dover Dover Multiple Located in Dover Castle, uniforms, weapons, regimental memorabilia
Quebec House Westerham Sevenoaks Historic house Operated by the National Trust, childhood home of General James Wolfe, exhibits about his life, the Battle of Quebec (1759), military memorabilia
Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment Museum Maidstone Maidstone Military Located inside the Maidstone Museum & Art Gallery
Queenborough Guildhall Museum Queenborough Swale Local website, local history, culture, industry, maritime heritage
RAF Manston History Museum Manston Thanet Aviation website, history of RAF Manston since 1916
Ramsgate Maritime Museum Ramsgate Thanet Maritime Maritime history of East Kent, development of the harbour, navigation, fishing, lifeboats and shipwrecks
Restoration House Rochester, Kent Medway Historic house Elizabethan mansion and garden where King Charles II stayed in 1660 on his way to reclaim England's throne
Rochester Art Gallery and Craft Case Rochester Medway Art website, changing exhibits of fine art, craft and design
Roman Painted House Dover Dover Archaeology Excavated remains of a Roman mansio, artifacts
Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway New Romney Shepway Railway Heritage railway headquarters at the New Romney railway station with engine sheds and model train museum
Romney Marsh Wartime Collection Brenzett Shepway Military website, history of RAF Brenzett, remains recovered from aircraft crash sites, World War II aircraft, military equipment and memorabilia
Royal Engineers Museum Gillingham Medway Military History of the Corps of Royal Engineers and British military engineering
Rupert Bear Museum Canterbury City of Canterbury Children's literature Rupert the Bear museum for children – part of the Museum of Canterbury
Salomons Museum Southborough Tunbridge Wells Historic house Country house of Sir David Salomons, the first Jewish Lord Mayor of London, and of his nephew, Sir David Lionel Salomons, a scientist and engineer
Sandwich Guildhall Museum Sandwich Dover Local website, local history
Sarre Windmill Sarre Thanet Mill Early 19th-century windmill
Scotney Castle Lamberhurst Tunbridge Wells Historic house Operated by the National Trust, 19th-century Elizabethan-style house and ruins of a medieval castle and moat, formal gardens
Sevenoaks Museum Sevenoaks Sevenoaks Local website, part of the Sevenoaks Kaleidoscope, local history, culture
Sheerness Heritage Centre Sittingbourne Swale Local information, local history, 19th-century-period rooms
Shoreham Aircraft Museum Shoreham Sevenoaks Aviation Military aviation in World War II, relics from crashed RAF and Luftwaffe aircraft
Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Railway Sittingbourne Swale Railway 2 ft 6in narrow gauge heritage railway that operates from Sittingbourne to the banks of The Swale.
Sittingbourne Heritage Museum Sittingbourne Swale Local website, local history, archaeology
Six Poor Travellers House Rochester, Kent Medway Historic house 16th-century charity house with restored Elizabethan bedrooms, inspiration for Charles Dickens' short story, The Seven Poor Travellers
Smallhythe Place Small Hythe Ashford Historic house Operated by the National Trust, 16th-century half-timbered house, home of Victorian actress Ellen Terry, houses her theatrical costume collection, local shipbuilding heritage
South Foreland Lighthouse Dover Dover Maritime Operated by the National Trust, first lighthouse powered by electricity and the site of the first international radio transmission
Spitfire and Hurricane Memorial Museum Manston Thanet Aviation website, World War II military aviators and aircraft, aviation memorabilia
St Augustine's Abbey Canterbury City of Canterbury Religious Operated by English Heritage, remains and museum about the 7th-century Benedictine abbey
St Margaret's Museum St Margaret's Bay Dover Local Local history and the environment
Stelling Minnis Windmill and Museum Stelling Minnis Shepway Mill Mid-19th-century windmill, also known as Davison's Mill
Stocks Mill Wittersham Ashford Mill 18th-century windmill
Stoneacre Otham Maidstone Historic house Operated by the National Trust, 15th-century half-timbered yeoman's house
Swanton Mill Mersham Ashford Mill information, information Archived 3 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine, weather boarded watermill in working order
Teapot Island Yalding Maidstone Art Collection of over 3500 ceramic teapots
Temple Manor Strood Medway Historic house 13th-century house of the Knights Templar with 17th-century additions
Tenterden Museum Tenterden Ashford Local website, local history, maritime heritage, Victorian room, hops growing and harvesting, tapestry depicting town history, industry
The Canterbury Tales Canterbury City of Canterbury History visites audio
Tonbridge Castle Tonbridge Tonbridge and Malling History Motte and bailey gatehouse with medieval period rooms and audio tours
Tunbridge Wells Museum & Art Gallery Royal Tunbridge Wells Tunbridge Wells Multiple website, local history, toys, costumes, Tunbridge ware, natural history, art
Turner Contemporary Margate Thanet Art Visual arts centre, exhibitions of contemporary and historical art, events and activities
Tyrwhitt-Drake Museum of Carriages Maidstone Maidstone Transportation Collection of horse-drawn vehicles and transport curiosities
Union Mill Cranbrook Tunbridge Wells Mill Early 19th-century windmill
Upnor Castle Upnor Medway Military Operated by English Heritage, Elizabethan artillery fort
Walmer Castle and Gardens Walmer Dover Historic house Operated by English Heritage, built by Henry VIII as an artillery fortress, later residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, exhibits about the Duke of Wellington, gardens
Walpole Bay Hotel & Museum Margate Thanet History website, 1914 hotel that includes displays of hotel antiques, history of the hotel, fossils and natural history artifacts, 19th- and 20th-century glass
Westenhanger Castle Westenhanger Shepway Historic house Medieval castle and barns under restorations, features a replica of the ship Discovery, one of the three ships that established the first permanent English speaking colony in America at Jamestown, Virginia
West Gate Towers Canterbury City of Canterbury Military Armaments from the English Civil War to World War II, original prison cells and murder holes
White Mill Rural Heritage Centre Sandwich Dover Mill Includes a mid-18th-century windmill, early 20th-century miller's cottage, farming and craft tools, a wheelwright's workshop, and a blacksmith's workshop
Whitstable Museum and Gallery Whitstable City of Canterbury Local Local history, maritime heritage of oysters, diving and shipping, natural history, art
Woodchurch Mill Woodchurch Ashford Windmill Early 19th-century windmill
Woodchurch Village Life Museum Woodchurch Ashford Local website, local history, rural life artifacts, culture, trades and professions

Defunct museums

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Medway Council - Eastgate House". Archived from the original on 23 April 2010. Retrieved 28 April 2010. Medway Council, Eastgate House
  2. ^ http://www.thamesbarge.org.uk/barges/charter/dolphinyard.html Archived 2010-04-18 at the Wayback Machine Dolphin Yard Sailing Barge Museum
  3. ^ "Farming World will NOT reopen this year despite promises by landowner of popular Kent family attraction in Boughton near Faversham". Kent Online. 17 April 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  4. ^ http://www.romar.org.uk/page489.html[permanent dead link‍] Kent Fire and Rescue Service Museum
  5. ^ http://www.highamvillagehistory.org.uk/FireMusm.htm Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine Photos
  6. ^ "Dover Discovery Centre". Archived from the original on 6 November 2007. Retrieved 28 November 2007. Dover Discovery Centre history
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