Maidstone Museum & Bentlif Art Gallery is in Maidstone, Kent, England.
In 1855 Thomas Charles, a local doctor and antiquarian, left his collections of art and antiquities to Maidstone Borough Council. The Council acquired Charles’s house, Chillington Manor, from his executors and in 1858 opened it as the Charles Museum, later renamed Maidstone Museum. The Museum was one of the first to be opened as a result of the Museums Act (1845) and was a founder member of the Museums Association (1909). Maidstone Museum celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2008.
This museum contains over 600,000 artefacts and specimens. Its collections, housed in the centre of Kent’s county town, are amongst the most comprehensive in the South-East. The Museum is one of three operated by Maidstone Borough Council and is open seven days a week. Admission is free.
The Museum's central core consists of an Elizabethan manor house, formerly known as Chillington Manor, completed in 1577 with earlier Tudor buildings to its rear. In the early 18th century a substantial wing was added to the west of the Tudor house. After its opening as a museum the building was further extended to house the growing collections. On the eastern side a new wing was added in 1869, matched by new wing to the west in 1873 made possible by donations from Julius Brenchley.
The eastern elevation was extended in 1889 to accommodate the Bentlif Art Gallery funded by Samuel Bentlif to house the art collection amassed by his brother George. On the western side the Victoria Gallery, housing the town’s library, was built between 1897 and 1899 to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. It operated as a free public lending library until 1936. In 1924 the Bentlif Wing was extended and in 1973 a new collection store was added to the east wing. Maidstone Museum & Bentlif Art Gallery is Grade II* listed.
The range of historic buildings (and 11 different floor levels) makes access to some parts of the Museum difficult. Significant improvements have been made recently to ensure that the Museum meets the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act, but some work must still be done to provide full access. One set of public toilets is available and facilities are cramped and inaccessible to wheelchair users. There are no disabled toilets.
The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment Museum, an independent charitable trust, has been housed in the Museum since 1964 and forms one of Maidstone Museum’s fifteen public galleries. Its collection of regimental memorabilia features over 3,000 medals, including four Victoria Crosses.
In September 2007 the Museum was awarded a grant of £2 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund to extend the art gallery wing. Following an architectural design competition managed by RIBA Competitions Hugh Broughton Architects design was chosen. The new wing opened in the summer of 2010 and will include new galleries, better visitors' facilities, improved storage for the collections and the Maidstone Visitor Information Centre. The Maidstone Museum website showreel suggests that the Lady Godiva statue by John Thomas (1813–1862), beloved by generations of local people, may be at last displayed to advantage, in the new Learning department.