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.
| Name | Image | Town/city | Region | Type | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture | website, barn and oast house with farm tools, equipment, wagons, operated by the Wye Rural Museum Trust | ||||
| Local | website, local history, archaeology, geology, industry, household artifacts | ||||
| Multiple | Known locally as the Beaney Institute or The Beaney, formerly known as the Royal Museum and Art Gallery, includes art, photography, local history | ||||
| Historic house | 18th-century Georgian house and gardens, features extensive private collection of clocks | ||||
| Blue Town Heritage Centre | Local | website, local history, culture, music hall and cinema | |||
| Brattle Farm Museum | Agriculture | information, open for groups by appointment only, historic farm equipment, household items, vintage cars | |||
| Railway | Heritage railroad and museum with steam locomotives, freight and carriage stock, railway artefacts | ||||
| Art | Exhibit gallery of political and social-comment cartoons from British newspapers and magazines, part of the University of Kent | ||||
| Multiple | City history, culture, Rupert the Bear Museum for children | ||||
| Archaeology | Artifacts from Roman Britain and reconstructions | ||||
| Chantry Heritage Centre | Local | website, local history, located in a 14th-century chantry | |||
| Industry | website, 18th-century gunpowder factory with watermill, one of the sites of the Faversham explosives industry | ||||
| Historic house | Operated by the National Trust, principal adult home of Sir Winston Churchill, exhibits, paintings and memorabilia, gardens | ||||
| 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 | ||||
| Multiple | Medieval style castle, includes Egyptian and Buddhist artefacts, Japanese armour and swords, Jacobean paintings, gardens | ||||
| Mill | Reconstructed mid-19th-century windmill | ||||
| Transportation | website, collection of Morgan Motor Company three wheel cars, bicycles, tricycles, model cars, automotive memorabilia | ||||
| Railway | History of Colonel H. F. Stephens, manager of the Kent and East Sussex Railway, railway equipment and memorabilia | ||||
| Court Hall Museum | Local | website, currently closed, local history, archaeology | |||
| Mill | Georgian and Victorian watermill | ||||
| Crampton Tower Museum | Multiple | website, life and works of railway engineer Thomas Russell Crampton, local railways, electric tramways, road transport, industry, model railways, local history | |||
| Cranbrook Museum | Local | website, local history, culture, rural life artifacts, toys, costumes, household items, art | |||
| Local | website, local history, culture, archaeology, geology, artifacts of Roman Britain, Anglo-Saxon, Norman and medieval eras | ||||
| Military | Operated by English Heritage, one of Henry VIII's Device Forts | ||||
| Multiple | website, local history, maritime heritage | ||||
| Maritime | Semaphore tower used for navigation aid, exhibits about smuggling, signaling, and the mechanics of the time ball | ||||
| Dickens House Museum | Biographical | information, Charles Dickens memorabilia and Victoriana | |||
| 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 | ||||
| Multiple | Local history, culture, archaeology, houses the Dover Bronze Age Boat | ||||
| 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 | ||||
| Mill | Mid-19th-century windmill | ||||
| Maritime | |||||
| Military | Operated by English Heritage, early 19th-century artillery tower | ||||
| Railway | Heritage railway and signal box visitor centre with railroad artifacts, model railway | ||||
| 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 | ||||
| Local | Local history, medieval period room, blacksmith and tanning trades, cricket ball making | ||||
| Elham Valley Line Trust Countryside Centre & Railway Museum | Railway | website, history of the Elham Valley Railway, railway artifacts, local history, railway model of the Channel Tunnel | |||
| Music | Early Georgian manor house with collection of historical keyboard instruments | ||||
| 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 | ||||
| Military | 18th-century fort under restoration, includes World War II exhibit, period re-enactments | ||||
| Historic house | Jacobean house with medieval hall, gardens | ||||
| Military | website, 1950s Cold War underground nuclear bunker and command center | ||||
| 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 | ||||
| Mill | Late-18th-century windmill | ||||
| Local | Local history, culture, archaeology, geology, paleontology, art | ||||
| Historic house | Medieval country house, childhood home of Anne Boleyn, exhibits from differing historical eras, instruments of torture, Tudor furnishings and history | ||||
| 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 | Local | information, information, library with local history museum | |||
| Historic house | Operated by the National Trust, medieval moated manor house, gardens | ||||
| Military | website, located at Hever Castle, history and memorabilia of the Kent and Sharpshooters Yeomanry | ||||
| Military | History of RAF Hawkinge and the Battle of Britain, World War II aircraft | ||||
| Open air | Formerly the Museum of Kent Life, 28acres heritage farm, historic houses, farm and village buildings | ||||
| Masonic | Masonic history, paintings, glassware, porcelain, regalia | ||||
| Law enforcement | History of the Kent County Constabulary | ||||
| Mill | Early-19th-century windmill | ||||
| 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 | ||||
| Aviation | Located at Lashenden (Headcorn) Airfield, military aircraft and aviation history | ||||
| Historic house | Former royal palace dating to the 12th century, furnished rooms, moat, aviary, maze, grotto, gardens, dog collar museum, other attractions | ||||
| Historic house | Medieval manor house and gardens | ||||
| Archaeology | Operated by English Heritage, excavated Roman villa artifacts | ||||
| Lydd Town Museum | Local | information, local history | |||
| 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 | ||||
| Archaeology | Operated by English Heritage, 13th-century wayside hospital housing area Roman artifacts | ||||
| Local | website, local history and culture, located in a former Victorian police station and magistrates court | ||||
| Art | Includes national and international art exhibits | ||||
| Minster Abbey Gatehouse Museum | Local | website, local history, culture | |||
| New Hall Museum | Local | information, local history | |||
| Mill | Mid-19th-century windmill, also houses the Norman Museum | ||||
| Transportation | Mopeds, motorcycles and bicycles manufactured by Norman Cycles, located at New Mill | ||||
| information, local history | |||||
| Military | Remains of an 18th-century fort, guns from 1904, vaults, magazines, World War II displays | ||||
| Technology | 1920s pumping station with two diesel engines, exhibits of local industrial equipment | ||||
| Historic house | Operated by the English Heritage, small 13th-century stone manor house | ||||
| Otford Heritage Centre | Local | information, local history | |||
| Historic house | Operated by the National Trust, Charles II house and garden, home of the architect Sir Herbert Baker | ||||
| Historic house | Medieval mansion and gardens, state rooms, tapestries, arms and armour, toy museum | ||||
| 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 | ||||
| Multiple | Located in Dover Castle, uniforms, weapons, regimental memorabilia | ||||
| Historic house | Operated by the National Trust, childhood home of General James Wolfe, exhibits about his life, the Battle of Quebec (1759), military memorabilia | ||||
| Military | Located inside the Maidstone Museum & Art Gallery | ||||
| Queenborough Guildhall Museum | Local | website, local history, culture, industry, maritime heritage | |||
| Aviation | website, history of RAF Manston since 1916 | ||||
| Thanet | Maritime | Maritime history of East Kent, development of the harbour, navigation, fishing, lifeboats and shipwrecks | |||
| 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 | Art | website, changing exhibits of fine art, craft and design | |||
| Archaeology | Excavated remains of a Roman mansio, artifacts | ||||
| Railway | Heritage railway headquarters at the New Romney railway station with engine sheds and model train museum | ||||
| Military | website, history of RAF Brenzett, remains recovered from aircraft crash sites, World War II aircraft, military equipment and memorabilia | ||||
| Military | History of the Corps of Royal Engineers and British military engineering | ||||
| Children's literature | Rupert the Bear museum for children – part of the Museum of Canterbury | ||||
| 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 | ||||
| Local | website, local history | ||||
| Mill | Early 19th-century windmill | ||||
| Historic house | Operated by the National Trust, 19th-century Elizabethan-style house and ruins of a medieval castle and moat, formal gardens | ||||
| Local | website, part of the Sevenoaks Kaleidoscope, local history, culture | ||||
| Sheerness Heritage Centre | Local | information, local history, 19th-century-period rooms | |||
| Aviation | Military aviation in World War II, relics from crashed RAF and Luftwaffe aircraft | ||||
| Railway | 2 ft 6in narrow gauge heritage railway that operates from Sittingbourne to the banks of The Swale. | ||||
| Sittingbourne Heritage Museum | Local | website, local history, archaeology | |||
| Historic house | 16th-century charity house with restored Elizabethan bedrooms, inspiration for Charles Dickens' short story, The Seven Poor Travellers | ||||
| 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 | ||||
| Maritime | Operated by the National Trust, first lighthouse powered by electricity and the site of the first international radio transmission | ||||
| Aviation | website, World War II military aviators and aircraft, aviation memorabilia | ||||
| Religious | Operated by English Heritage, remains and museum about the 7th-century Benedictine abbey | ||||
| Local | Local history and the environment | ||||
| Mill | Mid-19th-century windmill, also known as Davison's Mill | ||||
| Mill | 18th-century windmill | ||||
| Historic house | Operated by the National Trust, 15th-century half-timbered yeoman's house | ||||
| Mill | information, information, weather boarded watermill in working order | ||||
| Art | Collection of over 3500 ceramic teapots | ||||
| Historic house | 13th-century house of the Knights Templar with 17th-century additions | ||||
| Local | website, local history, maritime heritage, Victorian room, hops growing and harvesting, tapestry depicting town history, industry | ||||
| History | visites audio | ||||
| History | Motte and bailey gatehouse with medieval period rooms and audio tours | ||||
| Multiple | website, local history, toys, costumes, Tunbridge ware, natural history, art | ||||
| Art | Visual arts centre, exhibitions of contemporary and historical art, events and activities | ||||
| Transportation | Collection of horse-drawn vehicles and transport curiosities | ||||
| Mill | Early 19th-century windmill | ||||
| Military | Operated by English Heritage, Elizabethan artillery fort | ||||
| 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 | History | website, 1914 hotel that includes displays of hotel antiques, history of the hotel, fossils and natural history artifacts, 19th- and 20th-century glass | |||
| 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 | ||||
| Military | Armaments from the English Civil War to World War II, original prison cells and murder holes | ||||
| 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 | ||||
| Local | Local history, maritime heritage of oysters, diving and shipping, natural history, art | ||||
| Early 19th-century windmill | |||||
| Woodchurch Village Life Museum | Local | website, local history, rural life artifacts, culture, trades and professions | |||