Charles Dickens His Life And Homes Rediscovered

The final home of the great Charles Dickens where he wrote many of his most beloved novels has been closed off from public attendance for years, but within recent months this policy has come to an end as his legendary, Gad’s Hill Place, house in Higham, Kent has been opened to his adoring fans to celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth. The house was home to Dickens and his family from 1858 until his death in one of the rooms in 1870. The entire ground floor will be opened to the public and attractions inside will include the very study room in which he wrote many of his most famous stories.
Dickens bought the property for ?1,700 in 1856 and it remains in very good condition with much of the furniture he once owned still in place. The writing desk where he spent hours writing classics like Great Expectations, Our Mutual Friend, and A Tale of Two Cities, has been restored alongside other personal possessions for the first time since much if its contents were sold at auction in 1870 following his death. Attractions on display at the newly opened museum include the parlor and dining rooms, and even Dickens’ bedroom which features original 19th century regency furniture.
The opening of the Gad’s Hill Place home coincides with the a ?3.2million renovation currently taking place at the widely visited Charles Dickens Museum in London which has long been situated at the addresses of 48 and 49 Doughty Street, where Dickens lived for a while during the late 1830s. The Heritage Lottery Fund has generously donated ?2.4million towards this project.
A number of other homes that Dickens’ occupied during his lifetime are organizing events in celebration of Dickens’ bicentennial, such as another popular museum known as, Charles Dickens Birthplace Museum, which remains open to the public at Regency house at 1 Mile End Terrace in Portsmouth. The small terrace house was brand new when his parents moved in before Dickens’ birth in 1812, and the home is thought to have inspired many of the great writer’s descriptions of Victorian life expressed throughout his literary works. Another significant location to visit this year is certainly the small Kent village of Chalk in Kent. Dickens’ loved this largely working class district, and it featured as a setting in his novel, Great Expectations. It’s also the place where Dickens’ spent his honeymoon to wife, Catherine, in April 1836. In honor of Dickens’ bicentennial, there have been a number of other exhibitions throughout the UK this year, mostly in areas associated with Dickens’ life and times, such as Rochester, and Broad stairs.
The life of Charles Dickens has also been celebrated using 21st century technology as a free Dickens related smartphone app was launched in April this year for use on iPhone and Android smartphones. This unique app gives information on a number of Dickens related interests, including historical facts, quizzes, and directions to areas of Kent historically significant to Charles Dickens life.