Whitstable Museum and Gallery

Whitstable Museum and Gallery gathers the objects, photographs and records that tell the story of the town and its long relationship with the sea. Run entirely by volunteers under a charitable trust, and housed in the Foresters' Hall on Oxford Street, its collection has grown steadily through a real community effort. Its best-known exhibit is the Invicta: built by Robert Stephenson and Company in 1829, immediately after the famous Rocket, it hauled the opening trains of the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway — the Crab and Winkle line, one of the world's earliest passenger railways — in 1830, and is one of the oldest surviving steam locomotives in the world. After many years on display in Canterbury, it returned home to Whitstable in 2019, and now stands as the centrepiece of the collection, alongside one of the stationary winding engines that once hauled wagons up the line's steep inclines. The Museum also holds a collection of the personal items and papers of the actor Peter Cushing, who made his home in Whitstable — the town's Wetherspoons is named in his honour — together with early diving equipment from Whitstable's salvage trade, and displays on the oyster fishery that made the town's name. A whelking boat, the Floreat, has been restored by the Museum's volunteers. Concise, well cared for and full of genuine local history, it is one of the best ways to understand Whitstable, and an easy hour or two for adults and children alike.