# List of museums in Kent

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

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 | 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 | 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 m$^2$) 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

* Ashford Steam Centre, Willesborough, Kent, in operation 1968–76
* Charles Dickens Centre, Rochester, closed in 2004
* Dolphin Sailing Barge Museum, Sittingbourne, closed after a fire in 2009
* Farming World, Boughton under Blean, closed in 2014
* Kent Fire and Rescue Service Museum, Maidstone
* Manston Fire Museum, Manston, closed in 2014
* White Cliff Experience, Dover