Charles Dickens Museum
- Literature enthusiasts
- History enthusiasts
- Families with children
What Visitors Say
The gift shop was well equipped, the staff was lovely and the museum interesting. We didn’t have the salad with our quiche, yet that was fine with me. A nice tonic water in the shade of the beautiful garden with the lush Jasmine and roses…… ahhhhhh! The rooms and staircases are tight and it age does create some interesting odors at time, yet it was charming and informative.
We enjoyed our time in this museum and home of Charles Dickens. Very well preserved with interesting facts to learn and artifacts to observe. Definitely worth a visit if you enjoy Dickens and the world he lived in.
We had a great time here. This site is a must for any Dickens enthusiast. They have his writing desk and lots of other memorabilia. There is a cafe, a shop, and you can sit in the garden. They have a modernized bathroom. It takes about an hour to see everything. Worth it!
Very pleasant museum with well curated exhibits and very knowledgeable staff. For Dickens lovers or those interested in life during Victorian times. The museum isn’t large, but makes up for it with its attention to detail and its staff. Hearing about Dickens complex story through them really brought history to life.
Cosy history, an educational glimpse into the early life of the famed author. Make sure to bring your AirPods/earphones so you can scan the handy QR code for an audio guide that provides info bits in the different rooms on each floor. Quaint cafe serves tea and delicious scones with clotted cream and jam. Visiting in December had added bonus of festive holiday decorations throughout the house. There was also a live show (added fee to attend, also includes museum visit) by actor James Swanton performing riveting one-man plays of Dickens short stories The Signal-Man and The Trial for Murder. A must see if you can schedule to attend on the available days/times offered.
Highlights
Study & Writing Desk
Where the breakthrough books formedDesk, chair and quills anchor the leap from journalist to household-name novelist.
First floor front room
Dining Room
Performance before the stageDickens hosted readings and lively dinners here—rehearsing voices that later filled public halls.
Ground floor
Kitchen & Below Stairs
Fuel behind the fictionCoal, copper pans and service bells show the domestic machine that kept a 1830s household running.
Basement
Nursery & Family Rooms
Work and nine children under one roofCradles, toys and letters fill out the home life behind the deadlines.
Upper floors
Opening Hours
Fun Facts
Dickens kept a letter-opener topped with the taxidermied paw of his beloved cat ‘Bob’—a macabre, tender Victorian keepsake on display.
He wrote parts of ‘Oliver Twist’ and ‘Nicholas Nickleby’ in this house while still filing journalism—serialisation rhythms shaped his plotting cliffhangers.
Dickens’s famed public readings began as parlour performances; the breath-control drills and vocal markings survive on his prompt copies.
The museum acquired Dickens’s writing desk and chair after a public appeal—objects that travelled back from later homes to reunite with this address.
