The chalet where Charles Dickens wrote some of his last novels is set to get a new lease of life thanks to support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, in time for National Writing Day.
The Charles Dickens Writing Chalet, set in the gardens of Eastgate House, just off Rochester High Street in Medway, will receive a £240,000 to help develop plans to restore the architectural treasure and open it up to the public. In addition to this, we are contributing £40,000 and project partners from the Rochester and Chatham branch of the Dickens Fellowship are contributing £5,000.
Now more than 160 years old, this Grade I listed structure, situated in Eastgate Gardens, is extremely fragile and at serious risk of being lost.
Credit: Nick Johnson - The Imageworks
The attractive Grade I listed chalet is where Charles Dickens worked on several of his novels including Our Mutual Friend (1864–65), The Uncommercial Traveller (1861–69), and his final, unfinished work The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870). Dickens also used to rehearse here for his many public appearances and it is believed the second floor was lined with mirrors for this purpose.
The chalet was given to him as a present from an actor friend, Charles Fechter, in 1864 when he lived at Gads Hill in Higham. It arrived at Higham Railway Station on Christmas Eve 1864, in 94 pieces packed into 58 boxes, making it an early example of prefabricated design – a kind of Victorian flat pack – and was moved to its current location in the historic town of Rochester in the 1960s.
The project will conserve and restore the Chalet, creating a new setting inspired by the ‘Wilderness Garden’ of Dickens’ home at Gad’s Hill. Working in partnership with Friends of Eastgate House, heritage experts, and local cultural organisations, we will develop an inclusive programme inviting residents, schools, and visitors to explore Dickens’ creativity and his contemporary relevance as a social campaigner through creative engagement.
If development plans are successful, they will unlock a further funding of £1.2m from the Heritage Fund.
Enjoyed by generations to come
Eilish McGuinness, Chief Executive, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: "I’m pleased we are adding the Charles Dickens Writing Chalet, the writing nook where he wrote his last novels in peace and tranquillity, to the writing heritage we’ve funded over the years. Our support has help preserve letters, records and precious writing spaces of novelists, poets and playwrights from Jane Austen to Shakespeare, ensuring their words and their life-stories reach wide audiences and can be enjoyed by generations to come."
Preserving and celebrating Medway’s culture
Cllr Nina Gurung, Portfolio Holder for Heritage, Culture and Leisure, said: “Having personally had conversations with the Friends of Eastgate House and Dickens Fellowship about the importance of breathing new life into this precious hidden gem in Medway, I am absolutely thrilled to announce this successful funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. As a council, we are committed to preserving and celebrating Medway’s culture and heritage, and this funding will be pivotal in starting the first phase of the important work on the Dickens Swiss Chalet. The links between Medway and Dickens are well-known and run deep, and this project will help to shine a light on this comparatively lesser known, but equally special part of the great author’s story. We are excited about the collaborative work with wonderful local partners in preserving our heritage for now and into the future.”
Throughout the project, Medway Council will be working closely with a number of partners, including the Friends of Eastgate House, Dickens Fellowship, Medway Arts and Homelessness Forum, Medway Men in Sheds, Kent Association for the Blind and Wordsmithery.
The Heritage Fund has supported several other projects linked to Charles Dickens – including £2m for the restoration of his home in Bloomsbury, London, now the Charles Dickens Museum, in 2010. In 2014 his original desk and chair were saved by the Heritage Fund’s sister organisation the National Heritage Memorial Fund, allowing it to remain on permanent display in Dickens's study at 48 Doughty Street.
Many other writerly places and collections have been restored or saved by support from the Heritage Fund:
Top Ten Heritage-Funded Writerly Places
- Jane Austen’s House in Hampshire, the birthplace of her six beloved novels
- Abbotsford, near Melrose, where Sir Walter Scott became the biggest author of his day
- Lumb Bank, in the Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, home of the poet Ted Hughes, now a venue for Arvon’s creative writing courses and retreats
- Charleston, former home of artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, South Downs National Park, a country retreat for the Bloomsbury Group that included Virginia Woolf and T.S Elliot
- Keats House in Hampstead, London – a love letter written by him to his Fanny Brawne was returned to the place it was written for permanent display
- The 15th Century Guildhall at King Edward VI School, where William Shakespeare was educated and where he first witnessed professional theatre, as well as Anne Hathaway’s Cottage and walking trails around Stratford-upon Avon
- Brontë’s Birthplace – the birthplace of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë
- Ellisland Farm in south west Scotland, built by Scotland’s Bard, Robert Burns, and where he wrote some of his best-known works including Auld Lang Syne.
- A literary and heritage trail around five locations in South Derry/Londonderry showing the inspiration for Seamus Heaney’s poetry
- The Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea