Kent Museums & History

Kent Maritime History & The Cinque Ports

The historic docklands area of Chatham has played a prominent role in the history of British Maritime History for over 400 years, and the complex is now a tourist extravaganza of historic ships, cutting edge maritime museum and historic architecture mingled with on-site leisure and commercial facilities. The Docklands at Chatham cover an area of 80 acres, with around 100 historic buildings built mostly between 1704 and 1855. Chatham docklands has already won numerous awards as it heads towards World Heritage Status.

Rather spectacularly sited on the marina promontory, Ramsgate's Maritime Museum (the distinctive clockhouse) is a central hub for exploring both the extensive maritime history of Ramsgate and the wider East Kent coast heritage. Themed rooms guide you through the history of fishing, shipwrecks, lifeboats, Ramsgate's Meridian Mean Time and famous Ramsgate sons connected to maritime.

Of the five historic Cinque Ports - Hythe, Dover, Romney, Hastings and Sandwich, only Dover retains its importance as a working port. Once you start digging into the maritime history and importance of both Deal and Sandwich as ports in the past, before the age of power driven boats, you begin to realise just why these ports developed as such important centres. In the age of wind, tide and sail power the stretch of water just off Deal and Sandwich was one of the busiest anchorage points in the world. The reason is quite simple - winds that brought ships up the Channel past South Foreland would not always take vessels on and round the North Foreland stretch. Ships then had no choice but to anchor here at Deal awaiting favourable winds and Lower Deal grew up to serve the increasing volume of shipping. From the mid-15th century, after the silting up of the Stour Estuary had long closed the Wantsum Channel, the favoured inland crossing route of the Romans, Deal really began to take off as an anchorage point for ships awaiting the favourable winds to take them up and round North Foreland. Further, the construction by orders of Henry VIII of Deal, Walmer and Sandown Castles made the Downs waters a particularly safe and well defended anchorage. Supplying the anchored ships at Deal meant benefit to numerous local businesses, particularly agriculture. Deal port had as much prominence as Portsmouth and Rochester by 1600, with nearby Sandwich port seeing a corresponding decline.

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Museum of Kent Life & Agricultural History Museums Kent

Situated just off Junction 6 of the M20 sits the 28 acre Cobtree Estate which forms the site of the Museum of Kent Life. The estate was bequethed by Sir Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake, last in the line of this famous Kent family. Today the estate is a working heritage farm - they still grow, harvest and store hops for beer in the distinctive on-site double Oast house (note the white tipped roofs) and it's these traditional Kent farming practices that give you a real insight into rural life in Kent's past. Today the estate is a working heritage farm - they still grow, harvest and store hops for beer in the distinctive on-site double Oast house (note the white tipped roofs) and it's these traditional Kent farming practices that give you a real insight into rural life in Kent's past.

Kent Agricultural Museum is situated within a large manorial barn at Brook near Ashford and dates from 1374. Monks from Canterbury's Christchurch order are recorded in the Domesday book as having farmed this area around Brook. If you're internested in medieval architecture, you'll want to take a look at this incredibly well preserved barn with its distinctive crown post roof and visible scarf joints. A visit to the Agricultural Museum in Brook near Ashford also offers the perfect opportunity to explore the history of hops growing and drying and the processes involved in Kent's iconic Oast Houses. Oast Houses are particularly prevalent in the farming East Kent area, and many today are converted residence. These cone brick houses with pointed roofs with white tip were originally square, but from the early 1800s they were built circular as it was thought that this would improve the drying hops process. The theory was later disproved - but the Oasts remained the shape you see today.

Hop Farm just east of Tonbridge, alongside the Museum of Kent Life, is Kent's top rural farming museum, digging deep into the history of hop production within Kent. Once a working farm, Hop Farm covers 400 acres. A village of Oast Houses are on the site, the world's largest collection of Oast Houses in fact.

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Kent Second World War Museums & Airfields

Closest to Europe, Kent's role during the 20th Century's two World Wars was particularly strategic, with Dover's Secret Wartime Tunnels underneath the castle playing a particularly important role. It was here in 1940 that Vice Admiral Ramsey oversaw the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk otherwise known as Operation Dynamo (so named after private talks apparently that Ramsey had with Churchill in the Dynamo Room within the tunnels, which was noisy so their conversations could not be overheard).

Seven hundred personnel, both men and women, were based down in the tunnels during World War II. Escorted by excellent guides, learn more about the long 12 hour shifts undertaken by personnel down here - deprived of natural light. As well as touring the tunnels, the tour takes in the command room from where Churchill viewed the Battle of Britain and the hospital. Dover was one of the most bombed locations in Britain during the Second World War. Above ground within the castle site are the remains of a Roman lighthouse, evidence of the importance of this elevated position for centuries, and adjacent sits a restored Saxon church. Within the 12th century Keep there's a superb exhibit on Henry VIII's visit here to oversee personally reinforcements.

Easily accessed to the north of Folkestone off the A260, the Kent Battle of Britain Museum is home to the UK's most comprehensive collection of Battle of Britain artefacts. Numerous aircraft, weapons, crashed aircraft artefacts and flying equipment are all on display here. The museum sits on the historic RAF Station Hawkinge site, home to No 79 Squadron during the Battle of Britain from 2 July 1940. Once the Germans had pushed the allies to the sea and France was taken, the Battle of Britain was fought in the skies from 10 July to 31 October 1940.

The museum tells the heroic story of over 2000 men (both British and Overseas pilots) who flew sorties during the Battle. Five hundred and forty four men lost their lives, and now via the official RAF Battle of Britain history website (see link right) you can read complete Fighter Command Operational Diaries online. The website also offers a comprehensive history of the Battle including Figher Airfield listings and a Roll of Honour listing those men who lost their lives. RAF Station Hawkinge, alongside other airfields in Kent played a major strategic role in the Second World War and was the closest airfield in the UK to enemy occupied France. This area and Folkestone was subject to heavy shelling during the war, an indication of the site's importance.

Right in the heart of Romney Marsh at Brenzett (easily accessed off the A2070 Ashford/Brenzett Road via the Brenzett roundabout) sits a fascinating aeronautical museum as Brenzett. Situated within buildings used as a hostel for women working in the Land Army and on what became known as the Ivychurch airstrip during the Second World War, this superb aeronautical museum contains a wide selection of artefacts from the Second World War, with many retrieved from crash sites. Note the graffiti left on some of the walls by Land Army women based here.

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Seaside & Spa Resort History Kent

Margate offers up many gems, and one of the best with a strong focus on this seaside resorts holiday history is the Margate Museum. Margate Museum sits within the old town hall complex just off Main Sands beach. The museum area of the building dates from 1821, with older sections dating from as early as 1730 in Flemish style. Another building connected to the main complex by footbridge was added later in 1898. Extensively refurbished in recent times, architecturally Margate's old town hall complex is a fascinating mish-mash of styles. Services operated in here through the years have included Magistrates Courts, Police Station and Town Hall committee rooms. One of the former four police cells is today one of Margate Museum's permenant displays.

As a seaside resort, Margate's hey day was from the Edwardian period upto the 1970s and this British seaside history period in the town is the main focus of the museum. The bathing machine wasn't invented in Margate (that honour goes to Yorkshire's Scarborough in the 1730s), but the bathing machine was extensively developed here in Margate by local glove and breeches maker Benjamin Beale in the 1750s. As seaside bathing shifted from the therapeutic to the mass popular, Margate continued to thrive as a British seaside holiday resort leading the way, much like Blackpool on the Lancashire coast, in seaside resort development. Britain's oldest still operating rollercoaster is here in Margate still on the Dreamland amuseument complex which dates from the 1920s. A campaign is currently pushing for its preservation, with much local community support (see the Save Dreamland's website right for details). Campaigners are also fighting to preserve the stunning art deco 1930s Dreamland cinema with its distinctive tall flat tower.

Dudley Lord North may have discovered the spa spring at Tunbridge Wells which set the wheel in motion for Tunbridge Wells as Royal Spa Resort, but it was Richard Beau Nash who really pushed the town up there with the likes of Bath as a Regency resort of choice. From 1735 until his death in 1761, Beau Nash was Master of Ceremonies' at Royal Tunbridge Wells, which became known as his colony second to Bath. Master of Ceremonies meant organising entertainment in the town, regulating behaviour, orchestrating fees and generally promoting Tunbridge Wells as a top resort. Under Beau Nash Tunbridge Wells attracted the cream of visitors, both from the arts and royalty. No one could organise a ball like Beau Nash. This Georgian period in Royal Tunbridge Well's history is explored in the town's main museum and art gallery!

Royal Tunbridge Wells' famous Pantiles takes its name from the Kent clay tiles layed on this colonnaded walkway. The Pantiles developed alongside the springs as Tunbridge Wells which began to attract increasing numbers of visitors. Today the Pantiles are a mecca for serious specialist shoppers, particularly for antiques, toys and vintage wines. The town's historic old fish market is here too. The Chalybeate Spring still throws up its therapeutic waters and you can sample a cup, usually handed out by dressed up 'dipper'. The 'dipper' or distributer of the spring water was once royally appointed!

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Roman & Ancient History Kent

Roman Canterbury - Durovernum Cantiacorum was one of Roman Britain's largest towns. The Romans arrived in Britain in AD43, and much archaeological work around Kent has revealed numerous Roman settlements and Roman remains and artefacts in the region. The Roman Museum in Canterbury, alongside further Roman exhibits in the Canterbury Museum, are where to head to find out more on Roman history and life in Canterbury. Durovernum Cantiacorum thrived as a Roman town for over 400 years, and within Canterbury's Roman Museum technology, based on archaeological evidence, shows what Canterbury would have looked like during its thriving Roman period. Heavy wartime German bombing of historic Canterbury unearthed Roman archaeological sites in the city which otherwise may not have been discovered!

Richborough Roman Fort and Amphitheatre's particular importance within the Roman history of Britain is that without doubt it was the main Roman Gateway into Kent, symbolic of the Roman conquest of Britain. When the Romans were here around AD 43 a huge ceremonial arch gate loomed over the Roman Fort and adjacent lagoon harbour. (see a reconstruction of what it would have looked like via the English Heritage webguide).

Dover Museum is one of the oldest local museums in existance, dating back to 1836. With such longevity, as you can imagine the archives and artefacts held here are impressive. Situated now in a building just behind its original Victorian facade, Dover Museum holds a particular prize - the Dover Bronze Age Boat discovered in Dover at the bottom of a waterlogged hole at the end of Barton Street. The find was an accident, but what a prize. The Dover Bronze Age boat was an internationally acclaimed archaeological find, and at 9.5 metres long and 2.4 metres wide, it's the best preserved boat to be found and suggests cross channel trade during the Bronze Age, around 3000 years ago. The pre-history exhibit contains a reconstruction of the find - the centrepiece, plus a Bronze Age exhibit of tools and other artefacts. Essentially this is one of the finest Bronze Age exhibit galleries in the UK!

An important historical site in the Dartford area is the Swanscombe area just east of the town. It was here that a 400,000 year old skull was found, the oldest piece of human remains found in all Europe. Numerous other pre-historic tools have also been found in the area and these tools are on display in Dartford's museum! Find the Swanscombe site adjacent to the Swanscombe Leisure Centre in Craylands Lane, Swanscombe. Access is via the Leisure Centre's car park and the site where the skull pieces were found is marked by a commemorative stone. Within the leisure centre you'll find a small display on this special site.

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