Dartford Library
Encyclopedia
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
in the town centre of Dartford
Dartford
Dartford is the principal town in the borough of Dartford. It is situated in the northwest corner of Kent, England, east south-east of central London....
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It was originally a house and gardens in the 19th century but was later a bank and became known as Bank House. It later became the local Conservative Club and then municipal offices and the extensive gardens were opened to the public.
The library opened in 1916 by A. W. Smale, the Chairman of the Dartford Urban District Council, and W. A. Ward, Chairman of the Library Committee. The first browsers in the library were soldiers in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
who were staying in nearby military hospitals and recovering from wounds received while serving in the trenches. The Dartford Central Library was constructed with the aid of a grant from the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
. It was designed by Thomas E. Tiffin AMICE, the then Dartford Urban District Council Surveyor. The library is made from Portland and York stone, and was built by Messrs H. Friday and Sons and Ling originally in Bath, England.
In the 1930s the library was expanded and extended over what was once the Dartford tin works. During the Second World War it served as an air raid watchpost. The library is open from 8:30 am to 6 pm most weekdays except Thursday and is run by Kent County Council
Kent County Council
Kent County Council is the county council that governs the majority of the county of Kent in England. It provides the upper tier of local government, below which are 12 district councils, and around 300 town and parish councils. The county council has 84 elected councillors...
. The building is listed as a Grade II listed building.
Paranormal associations
The library is reportedly haunted and has been subject to a paranormal investigations by Most HauntedMost Haunted
Most Haunted is a British paranormal documentary reality television series. The series was first shown on 25 May 2002 and ended on 21 July 2010. It was broadcast on Living and presented by Yvette Fielding. The programme was based on investigating purported paranormal activity...
. Employees and visitors to the library have reported being touched without explanation, senses of being watched, footsteps, strong old-fashioned scents and have witnessed books falling off shelves in unexplained fashion despite being securely on the bookcase.
Dartford Library was part of the Most Haunted
Most Haunted
Most Haunted is a British paranormal documentary reality television series. The series was first shown on 25 May 2002 and ended on 21 July 2010. It was broadcast on Living and presented by Yvette Fielding. The programme was based on investigating purported paranormal activity...
series when two residents went into the Library and spent the night there. Yvette Fielding has also felt a hand brush past her leg.