Dover Museum, England
Encyclopedia
- For museums in any other town or city named Dover, see Dover (disambiguation)Dover (disambiguation)Dover is a port town in Kent in South East England.Dover may also refer to:* Dover Corporation, a diversified industrial manufacturer* Dover , the Parliamentary constituency that includes Dover, England...
.
Dover Museum is a museum in Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
, 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...
, in south-east 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...
.
History
Founded in February 1836 by the town's mayor Edward Pett Thompson, it was initially housed in the old Guildhall and run by the Dover Philosophical Institute. The Town Council (predecessor of Dover District Council) formally took it over 12 years later, constructing a new building to house it and the town's market, in Market Square.Shelled
Cross-Channel guns in the Second World War
During the Second World War, cross-Channel guns were long-range coastal artillery pieces placed on the English Channel coasts of Kent, England and the Pas-de-Calais, France, at the point at which England was closest to continental Europe, with which to bombard enemy shipping in the Channel and...
from France in 1942 during the Second World War, the Museum lost much of its collections, including nearly all of its natural history collections. Much of the surviving material was left neglected in caves and other stores until 1946, and it is estimated only 30% of the pre-war collection survived to that date. In 1948 a 'temporary' museum was opened in the Town Hall's undercroft, but this in fact lasted until 1991, when a new museum building on three stories (behind the Museum's original Victorian facade) was opened in Market Square.
On 20 July 1999 the Queen opened a new gallery on the Museum's second floor centred on the Dover Bronze Age Boat
Dover Bronze Age Boat
Dover Bronze Age boat is one of the few Bronze Age boats to be found in Britain. It dates to 1575-1520BC. The boat was made using oak planks sewn together with yew lashings. This technique has a long tradition of use in British prehistory; the oldest known examples are from Ferriby in east Yorkshire...
. In December 2000, this gallery was awarded the British Archaeological Awards ICI Award 2000, for its contribution to archaeological knowledge.
Collections
Its collections, displayed on three floors include:- Ground floor — Archaeology gallery — Dover and the Dover District Council area (including DealDeal, KentDeal is a town in Kent England. It lies on the English Channel eight miles north-east of Dover and eight miles south of Ramsgate. It is a former fishing, mining and garrison town...
and WalmerWalmerWalmer is a town in the district of Dover, Kent in England: located on the coast, the parish of Walmer is six miles north-east of Dover. Largely residential, its coastline and castle attract many visitors...
, which do not yet have their own town museum, only the Deal Maritime Museum) from prehistoric times to 1066, including RomanDubrisDubris or Portus Dubris was a town in Roman Britain. It is now Dover, Kent, England.As the closest point to continental Europe and the site of the estuary of the Dour, the site chosen for Dover was ideal for a cross-channel port...
and Saxon Dover (including the Saxon cemetery from BucklandBuckland, KentBuckland is a village near Dover, England. It is noted for its Saxon cemetery whose finds now belong to the British Museum but are on display at Dover Museum.English railway contractor, Edward Betts, was born in Buckland....
). It reuses a diorama of ClaudiusClaudiusClaudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
's arrival on elephant at Richborough in 43 AD and full size reconstructed figures of a Celt and a Roman, all three of which are from the now defunct White Cliffs Experience next door. - First floor — Temporary exhibition gallery.
- Second floor:
- History of Dover town, Cinque PortsCinque PortsThe Confederation of Cinque Ports is a historic series of coastal towns in Kent and Sussex. It was originally formed for military and trade purposes, but is now entirely ceremonial. It lies at the eastern end of the English Channel, where the crossing to the continent is narrowest...
and Dover CastleDover CastleDover Castle is a medieval castle in the town of the same name in the English county of Kent. It was founded in the 12th century and has been described as the "Key to England" due to its defensive significance throughout history...
from 1066 to the modern era. This includes the Victoriana Museum collection, bequeathed in 1990 by William Williamson of Deal and including works by artists such as Dame Laura KnightLaura KnightDame Laura Knight, DBE was an English Impressionist painter known for painting the world of London's theatre, ballet and circus.-Early life and education:...
, Lady Alma TademaLaura Theresa Alma-TademaLaura Theresa Alma-Tadema was from 1871 the second wife of the painter Lawrence Alma-Tadema and a painter in her own right.-Life:...
, Fantin LatourHenri Fantin-LatourHenri Fantin-Latour was a French painter and lithographer best known for his flower paintings and group portraits of Parisian artists and writers.-Biography:...
, J.F. HerringJohn Frederick Herring, Sr.John Frederick Herring, Sr. , also known as John Frederick Herring I, was a painter, sign maker and coachman in Victorian England.John F. Herring, Sr. is the painter of the 1848 "Pharoah's Chariot Horses"...
, Henry Bernard ChalonHenry Bernard Chalon-Life:Son of the Dutch émigré and engraver Jan Chalon , Henry studied at the Royal Academy Schools and then started specializing in sporting and animal painting. He was appointed Animal Painter to Frederica, Duchess of York, in 1795, and later to both the Prince Regent and King William IV...
, David CoxDavid Cox (artist)- David Cox Junior :David Cox had a son of the same name who followed his calling as a watercolour painter. He was born in Dulwich, but educated in Hereford. He exhibited in London from 1827, although today he is known mainly through association with his father. He died in Streatham on 4 December...
, E.W. CookeEdward William CookeEdward William Cooke, R.A., F.R.S., F.Z.S., F.S.A., F.G.S. was an English landscape and marine painter, and gardener.-Life and work:...
and Benjamin Robert Haydon. - The 2003 Dover Bronze Age BoatDover Bronze Age BoatDover Bronze Age boat is one of the few Bronze Age boats to be found in Britain. It dates to 1575-1520BC. The boat was made using oak planks sewn together with yew lashings. This technique has a long tradition of use in British prehistory; the oldest known examples are from Ferriby in east Yorkshire...
gallery, where the Langdon Bay hoard is also displayed.
- History of Dover town, Cinque Ports
White Cliffs Experience
The White Cliffs Experience was a visitor attraction in Dover, attached to Dover Museum. It opened in 1991 and, though it underwent a refit halfway through its life, it still did not prove a success and was later closed. It included a Blitz Experience (an audio-visual street scene of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
). Its building is now occupied by the town's library and Discovery Centre.
Only a small portion of the actual archaeology was on display, the attraction instead being reliant on diorama
Diorama
The word diorama can either refer to a nineteenth century mobile theatre device, or, in modern usage, a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum...
s and audio-visual displays. Even after one redesign, it did not prove a success and has now been closed and its building converted into the Dover Library and Discovery Centre. That portion of the archaeology can still be viewed, but only by request from the library staff. Many of the dioramas and reconstruction figures have been reused in Dover Museum.
The White Cliffs Experience was closed in 1999 for a combination of reasons; the Labour opposition group on Dover District Council had always been against the WCE, labelling it 'The White Elephant' and opposing the amount of money it took to run as well as complaining that it fell short of achieving the predicted 300,000 visitors a year.
When they came to power in 1997, the new Labour council were obviously not too keen on the WCE. Their policies for regenerating Dover relied on attracting industry and acting as an 'enabler' rather than a provider of heritage and tourism facilities. They withdrew much of the money previously paid to tourism initiatives. At the same time, the technology used to run the animatronics and shows (laser discs, carousel slide projectors and 35mm film projectors, etc.) had quickly dated and become obsolete and by 1998 needed replacing. Various quotes were received to update the WCE but were beyond what the Council were prepared to pay so they decided to cut their losses and close the Experience.
External links
- Dover Museum website
- Information from Culture24