Dover Museum and Bronze Age Boat Gallery

The museum was known simply as Dover Museum up until 1999, and up until this point it was just a small local history museum; however, the addition of the Dover Bronze Age Boat means that the museum was renamed to highlight its new prize exhibit.

What to see at the Dover Museum and Bronze Age Boat Gallery

The museum has an excellent collection of ancient artefacts, including pottery, weapons, jewellery, and textiles, which provide an insight into the way of life of the people who lived in the area thousands of years ago.

The museum has three floors of exhibits with the archaeology gallery on the ground floor, temporary exhibitions on the first floor and the second floor housing a local history gallery and the Dover Bronze Age Boat gallery.

The ground floor archaeology gallery focuses on local history from prehistoric times until 1066 with exhibits including artefacts from Roman and Saxon times.

Local history exhibits on the second floor focus on local history from 1066 until the modern era and these exhibits include a permanent display about the endurance sport of swimming the English Channel.

Bronze Age Boat Gallery

The museum’s second floor is also home to the Bronze Age Boat Gallery where the Dover Bronze Age Boat and the Langdon Bay hoard are on display.

The boat, which is believed to be around 3,500 years old, was discovered in September 1992 during the construction of the A20 road between Dover and Folkestone and, after careful study and preservation, it was re-assembled at the museum with the Bronze Age Boat Gallery opened to the public in July 1999.

The Dover Bronze Age Boat is considered to be one of the world’s oldest substantially intact boats. There is also speculation that this is the world’s oldest sea-going vessel as the few older boats, such as the Khufu ship in Egypt and the Ferriby boats from Yorkshire, appear to be designed for use on rivers and sheltered coastal waters.

The gallery is also home to the Langdon Bay hoard, a collection of Bronze Age artefacts found in 1974 at Langdon Bay, near the White Cliffs of Dover immediately northeast of Dover Eastern Docks and 3.25km (2 miles) east of central Dover. The hoard includes bronze axes of a French design, which is considered to indicate cross-Channel trade as early as the Bronze Age.

Visiting the Dover Museum and Bronze Age Boat Gallery

The museum has a central location on Market Square right in the heart of Dover.

Admission to the museum is free of charge and it is open year round, although it is closed on Sundays during winter.

The museum’s central location means that most areas of the town centre are no more than a five minute walk away, although Dover’s main attractions are a little way outside the town centre and the museum is a 20-minute walk from Dover Castle and around a 10-minute walk from the Western Heights.

Dover Priory railway station is a 10-minute walk from the museum and Pencester Road bus station is around a four-minute walk.

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