Dickens' Kent

In 2012 Kent will be celebrating the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens. The year will bring many activities and events to commemorate the 200th anniversary of one of Britain's best loved authors.

In 1812, Charles was born in Portsmouth to John and Elizabeth Dickens. The house has now been set up as a museum, with the furnishings styled around the early 1800s. After three years, the family had to move to London due to the job of Charles' father.  Find out more about Dicken's in Portsmouth.

Whilst in London, Dickens was sent to work in a blacking factory, but later became a law court reporter and journalist. It was through this job that he spent most of his time gathering ideas for his novels.  The Dickens Museum in London is the only surviving London home of Dickens.  It was opened as a museum in 1925 and displays rare edition books, original furniture, paintings and other items of Charles Dickens.  Find out more about the London Dickens Museum.

From 1817 - 1822, Charles Dickens resided in Chatham, Kent. It was here that he found the inspiration for Dullborough in ‘The Uncommercial Traveller' and also Mudfog in ‘The Mudfog Papers'. For a short while, Dickens and his family lived in Ordnance Terrace.

It was at the Historic Dockyard, Chatham, that Charles' father John clerked the Royal Navy pay office. Charles Dickens often used to take regular river trips with his father on the Naval Pay Yacht from Chatham. Create your own Dickens experience on a river boat trip with Paddle Steamer Kingswear Castle, which departs from the dockyard.

Dickens World at Chatham Maritime offers exciting interpretations of Dickensian lifestyles and characters - a definite must see for all followers of Dickens.

Dickens often walked along Rochester High Street with his father, where he gained most of his motivation and ideas for two of his novels - Pickwick Papers and the unfinished Mystery of Edwin Drood.

The Guildhall in Rochester is where Pip was an apprentice in Great Expectations. Today, the Guildhall is a museum of the history of Rochester, including a Dickens Discovery Room. Visit Rochester Castle to discover the unique bird's eye view of Pip's hometown and the fictional town of Cloisterham found in the mystery of Edwin Drood. In the gardens of Eastgate House (Westgate House in Pickwick Papers), the Swiss Chalet that Dickens received as a present from his friend Charles Fechter, can be seen. It is believed that Dickens used this Chalet for study and writing.

Rochester has celebrated Medway's association with Charles Dickens since 1978. Don't miss this year's Dickens Festival at Rochester from the 29th-31st May and also Kent's Dickensian Christmas on the 5th and 6th December 2009! 

From 1856, Dickens lived in Higham, just 3 miles from Rochester in a Georgian Home, Gad's Hill Place until he died in 1870. This is now a school, which regularly holds open days for Dickens enthusiasts to look round and discover more.

One of Dickens' favourite walks, in his free time, was to Cobham Hall and Park. As this is now a grammar school for girls, it is open to the public on occasional open days. Near the hall, at the Leather Bottle inn, Cobham village, Dickens often performed readings of his most recent work. The inn features in Dickens' ‘Pickwick Papers'.

Dickens used Gravesend as a popular departure point for emigrants. From this location, David Copperfield said goodbye to emigrating friends, and Pip (Great Expectations) helped Magwich in an attempt to escape the country. It is thought that Dickens also decided to spend his honeymoon in Chalk, Gravesend.

Canterbury also inspired the novels of Dickens. Both the Cathedral Gate hotel and the Sun Hotel and tea rooms in Canterbury, say they are the original fictional establishment for Dickens. The House of Agnes is where Mr Wickfield lived in ‘David Copperfield', and has now been refurbished as a hotel.
 

Dickens loved to spend his holidays in Broadstairs. He spent almost every summer there from 1837-1859, to breathe in the fresh sea air and write his legendary stories. It was here where he wrote Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge. He was known to have stayed in the Royal Albion Hotel which overlooks Viking Bay, where he finished the David Copperfield novel.

The Dickens House Museum in Broadstairs once belonged to his friend Mary Pearson Strong. It now has a recreation of Betsy Trotwood's parlour with old letters, memorabilia, and costumes on display.

Broadstairs celebrates the Dickens festival each year and welcomes all on the Turner and Dickens walk between Margate harbour and Broadstairs seafront. In 2009, the Broadstairs Dickens festival will run from the 20th-24th June.