What's in the Museum
Maidstone Museum was established in 1858 and now houses over 660,000 artefacts and specimens. They are outstanding in their diversity and quality and some are of national and even international importance. The work of collectors, staff and benefactors over 145 years has created an overwhelmingly rich and diverse collection of far greater than regional significance.
Chillington Manor
The Museum’s central core consists of Chillington Manor, an Elizabethan manor house built in 1562. The Great Hall and the Withdrawing Room date from that period but the Cloisters and Long Gallery (restored around 1870) are survivals from an earlier Tudor building. Between 1698 and 1743 a substantial wing was added to the rear of the Elizabethan building. This was the building which was bequeathed to the town by Thomas Charles, a surgeon and antiquarian, in 1855. Three years later Maidstone Museum and Library was opened, its first curator being Charles' close friend, Edward Pretty. More galleries were soon added to house the growing collections.
East Wing
On the eastern side a new wing was added in 1869 and extended in 1889 to accommodate the Bentlif Art Gallery. This was funded by Samuel Bentlif in honour of his brother George (he also donated over 200 hundred paintings), and was enlarged again in 1924.
West Wing
On the western side a new wing, made possible by donations from Julius Brenchley, was built 1873. The Victoria Gallery, housing the town’s library, was built between 1897 and 1899 to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. In 1977 a fire damaged much of the upper floors in the West Wing and 18th century extension.
