Museum collections

What's in Maidstone Museum?

Ancient Egyptians

Undoubtedly the star of our Egyptian Collection is ‘The Lady of the House, Ta-Kesh, Daughter of Osiris, Pa-Muta; her mother Lady of the House, Shy’. This 2,700 year-old Egyptian mummy was brought to England in the 1820s. The collection explores ancient Egyptian culture with an emphasis on their obsession with death.

Archaeology

Stone tools and other evidence tell us that our ancestors were living in the Maidstone area over 400,000 years ago. Our collections of archaeological material are outstanding, ranging from beautifully fashioned flint tools and fabulous Bronze Age weapons, to exquisite Roman glass and fabulous Anglo-Saxon jewellery.

Costume

'Dressing Rooms' shows a chronological progression of the changing shape of women's dress from 1800 to 2000. The displays incorporate underwear, accessories, children's garments and doll's clothes from each decade; which are complemeted by paintings and photographs from the museum collections.

Ethnography

Cultural material from around the world is represented in our ethnography collection of more than 4,000 items. The majority of these items form the internationally important Brenchley Collection, from the Pacific area. This material was collected during the travels of Julius Brenchley, who left Maidstone in 1845 to travel the world. Most of the next 28 years were spent abroad building up the fabulous collections which he bequeathed to the Museum in 1873.

Biology

There are more than 20,000 different species of plants and animals in Kent and the museum’s vast collections reflect that local diversity. There are collections of plants (botany), including many specimens of species which are notoriously difficult to identify, and animals (zoology).

The Kent’s River Safari gallery explores the habitats, plant and animal species which make up our county’s unique natural heritage. Natural history specimens from around the world are also represented; the Museum has an especially fine collection of shells from the South Sea Islands gathered by the great Victorian collector, Julius Brenchley in 1865.

Fine and decorative art

The museum’s art collections are outstanding. 574 oil paintings constitute Kent's biggest publicly owned collection. Its strengths are pre-1800 minor Dutch and Italian Old Masters and a number of rare paintings by Maidstone born essayist William Hazlitt.

The watercolour and drawings collection numbers more than 2,500 items and includes 40 Old Master drawings, 200 watercolours by Albert Goodwin (the largest collection in public hands), and over 1,400 topographical views. The print collection numbers 3,500 and includes 400 by Victorian printing pioneer George Baxter and 100 by the noted engraver William Woollett. Over 1,400 Kentish views are also represented.

Geology

The remains of some of the incredible creatures that lived and died in Kent over the last 145 million years are on show in our Earth Heritage Gallery.

Our collections of rocks and minerals are comprehensive and our superb fossil collection reflects the importance of Maidstone to the history of palaeontology (the study of fossils). It was in a local quarry that the world’s first articulated bird-hip dinosaur was found in 1834. That dinosaur, the Maidstone Iguanodon, is incorporated in the town’s coat-of-arms.

Japanese

Maidstone Museum and Bentlif Art Gallery’s collections of the Japanese Edo period (1600-1868) are amongst the best in the South East. They contain over 3,000 artifacts, primarily from two locally connected donations in the early 20th Century.

Local history

Stone tools and other evidence tell us that our ancestors were living in the Maidstone area more than 400,000 years ago. Significant finds from the Bronze Age, Iron Age and later Roman and Saxon periods provide tantalising glimpses of what must have been like for local people.

Written records do not exist much before the Medieval period when the Archbishop’s Palace overlooking the Medway became the focus of a small settlement.

Maidstone was recognised as a town in 1549 when it was granted a royal charter. By the 18th century Maidstone was the official and legal centre of Kent. It was also a successful industrial town with major brewing and paper-making industries. In the 21st century Maidstone is still expanding as a retail and entertainment centre.