Dover Museum & Bronze Age Boat Gallery

29/05/2026

Tomorrow! On Saturday 30th May, come to Dover Museum to make your own standing paper doll that you can dress up!
📅Saturday 30th May
🕙Drop in 10.00-3.00
📍Dover Museum
Free craft activity

This activity is suitable for ages 6 and over. Other activities will be available for younger children. All children must be accompanied by a responsible adult at all times. If the workshop is busy, you may be required to wait until seats are free or to come back later.

This workshop is being run as part of a series in celebration of Dover Museum's newest exhibition 'What People Wore' on the middle floor gallery open from 27th of May. Entry to the museum and exhibition is free.

Dover District Council Visit White Cliffs Country - Dover, Deal and Sandwich

[Image description: In the foreground is a picture of a coloured in paper doll that is free standing. The paper doll is wearing a pink shirt, and orange vest and blue trousers. Behind the doll is an image of a rail with hangers with three examples of coloured in paper outfits with tabs for folding. The outfits consist of a brown checked suit with a grey bow tie and walking boots; a green layered short sleeve dress with brown boots; a yellow and orange sleeveless dress with white tights and red shoes.]

27/05/2026

On Saturday 30th May, come to Dover Museum to make your own standing paper doll that you can dress up!
📅Saturday 30th May
🕙Drop in 10.00-3.00
📍Dover Museum
Free craft activity

This activity is suitable for ages 6 and over. Other activities will be available for younger children. All children must be accompanied by a responsible adult at all times. If the workshop is busy, you may be required to wait until seats are free or to come back later.

This workshop is being run as part of a series in celebration of Dover Museum's newest exhibition 'What People Wore' on the middle floor gallery open from 27th of May. Entry to the museum and exhibition is free.

Dover District Council Visit White Cliffs Country - Dover, Deal and Sandwich

[Image description: In the foreground is a picture of a coloured in paper doll that is free standing. The paper doll is wearing a pink shirt, and orange vest and blue trousers. Behind the doll is an image of a rail with hangers with three examples of coloured in paper outfits with tabs for folding. The outfits consist of a brown checked suit with a grey bow tie and walking boots; a green layered short sleeve dress with brown boots; a yellow and orange sleeveless dress with white tights and red shoes.]

27/05/2026

🎩New exhibition open today: What people wore👒

🧵This exhibition takes a look at clothing and accessories over the centuries with many examples on display along with artworks that show fashion from different eras.🪡

📅Open from 27th May
📍Dover Museum's Special Exhibition Gallery on the middle floor
Free Entry

[Image description: Articles of clothing from the exhibition are arranged on mannequins. In the centre is the back of a pale turquoise with bead detailing on the straps and a large bow detail at the skirt; on the left is a bright blue long dress with black lace detailing that has a separate corseted body and skirt and a beige silk waistcoat with cord details around the buttons; on the right is a long grey suit jacket and trousers and a green and gold vertical striped long sleeve dress with red floral details.]

Dover District Council Visit White Cliffs Country - Dover, Deal and Sandwich

24/05/2026

23/05/2026

The Stone Mason's festival is underway! Come along to the Maison Dieu Dover to see stone masons at work and join in the activities.
In the Stone Hall you can also see Cat's Eye Carving work in progress creating Deal Man replicas,
Suggest a name for a replica,
Or make your very own clay Deal Man!

22/05/2026

This bank holiday weekend, 23rd-25th May come along to Maison Dieu Dover's Stone Masonry festival:

➡See stone mason Carrie Horwood's Cat's Eye Carving progress on sculpting replicas of Deal Man
➡Suggest names for the Deal Man replicas
➡Make your very own clay Deal Man!

NEWS: A cross‑channel Stone Masonry Festival is set to bring hands‑on creativity and historic craftsmanship to the Maison Dieu Dover (Dover Town Hall) later this month. Read the press release: https://www.dover.gov.uk/News/Press-Releases/2026/Watch-Dragons-Lions-and-Gargoyles-Emerge-from-Stone-at-the-Maison-Dieu's-Stone-Masonry-Festival.aspx

21/05/2026

Behind the scenes, Dover Museum’s staff and volunteers have been busy preparing for our upcoming exhibition, What People Wore.

Here they are gently steaming and carefully arranging and supporting the museum’s costume collections onto mannequins and padded hangers ready for display.

What People Wore will take a look at clothing and accessories over the centuries with many examples on display along with artworks that show fashion from different eras.

📅Open from 27th May
📍Dover Museum's Special Exhibition Gallery on the middle floor
Free Entry

[Image descriptions:
1) A museum volunteer is carefully placing acid free tissue puffs on the shoulders of a mannequin to help support a dress. The dress is pale turquoise with bead detailing on the straps and a large bow detail at the back.
2) A museum volunteer is carefully steaming a cream christening gown. The gown has a long skirt, lace detailing at the front and short sleeves with small puffs and lace detailing.
3) A member of the museum's collections team is carefully steaming a green dress. The dress has short sleeves, ruched detailing on the front, and a bow near the neck line.
4) Two volunteers are carefully placing a gold and green floral dress onto a mannequin. There are other mannequins in the background ready to be dressed.
5) A member of the museum collections team is carefully placing a delicate beaded dress onto a mannequin. In the background are dressed mannequins and collections boxes.
6) Two museum volunteers are sewing Tyvek to make padded hangers ready to display collections on. In the background are dressed mannequins ready to display.]

20/05/2026

Who is Deal Man?

Deal Man is an Iron Age carved chalk figurine on display at Dover Museum. He was discovered in 1984 during excavations by the Dover Archaeological Group ahead of construction work on a site adjacent to St Richards Road in, Deal. Amongst the Roman pits excavated was a chalk-cut shaft. This was around 2.5 meters deep and gave access to a small underground oval chamber. About 0.4 metres above this chamber amongst fill was Deal Man. The second image shows where a small niche was found high up in the north-west wall of the chamber. As with Deal Man, this niche had a compensating sloping base that was observed likely housed the Deal Man figure.

The figure is thought to be of Roman date and the style of Deal Man and the focus on the head conforms to Celtic artistic tradition, but the simple form may be traced to the pre-Roman European Iron Age. The chamber in which Deal Man was found may possibly have been a shrine. There are parallels with other European discoveries to both to the pit and its chamber and the presence of figurines in pits which have been interpreted as used for rituals. There are examples that Deal Man himself can be compared to, but the discovery of the chalk figurine is very rare.

Dover Museum is looking to get Deal Man conserved so that he remains well preserved for the future. In an exciting addition to this, replicas are being carefully carved by stone mason Carrie Horwood Cat's Eye Carving using repurposed chalk from Dover so that these replicas can be loaned out for other places to display, study and enjoy. Casts of Deal Man will also be made so that more replicas can be made in the future. Check out Carrie’s preparation work in her blog here: https://www.catseyecarving.co.uk/2026/05/deal-chalk-man/
Carrie will also be at the Maison Dieu Dover's Stone Masonry festival this Bank Holiday weekend where you can see some of her work on Deal Man.

Image 2: Section drawing provided courtesy of Dover Archaeological Group.

[Image description:
1) Deal Man is a carved chalk figurine with a simple face features, a long slender neck, and a plain rectangular body. The figurine's base slopes backwards so that it will not stand up on a flat surface.
2) The diagram is a scaled outline section drawing of the shaft and chamber from the excavation site where Deal Man was found and the niche that may have housed him]

12/05/2026

Today is International Nurses Day, celebrating the work of nurses across the world. Edith Louisa Cavell (1865–1915) was a British nurse who is celebrated for treating wounded soldiers from both sides during the First World War and for helping British and Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium.

In 1907, Edith was appointed as Matron in Brussels at Belgium's first training hospital and school for nurses. She continued to work in Brussels and was known for her pioneering nursing work. Brussels was occupied by Germany from 20th August 1914. The nursing school became a Red Cross hospital, treating casualties from both sides as well as civilians.

Whilst working under German-occupied Brussels, Edith became part of a network of people sheltering and aiding British and Allied soldiers and military aged civilians to cross the border to the neutral territory in the Netherlands. Edith was arrested for these actions, court martialled under German Military law and sentenced to death. Although legal under international law, her ex*****on sparked outrage in Britain and other nations.

The day before her ex*****on, Edith said "Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone." This quote is captured on her memorial statue in St Martin's Place London, adjacent to the first site for the headquarters of the British Red Cross.

After the war Edith’s remains were exhumed and returned to Britain, sailing from Ostend aboard the destroyer HMS Rowena and landing at the Promenade Pier in Dover on the 14th May 1919. Pictured are postcards from Dover Museum’s collection from the large cortege that accompanied her coffin through Dover.



Image 1: "Edith Cavell monument, St Martin's Place WC2 - geograph.org.uk - 1318141" by R Sones. CC BY-SA 2.0.