Carriages could be drawn to £2m project at airfield
A project to create a £2m transport museum at Headcorn Aerodrome is in the pipeline.
The plan, which is in its earliest stages, could see the Tyrwhitt-Drake Museum of Carriages in Mill Street, Maidstone, closed and its 60 carriages, sedan chairs and antique bicycles moved to the airfield near Shenley Farm Cottages.
No official decision has been made and the plans are not expected to be finalised until next year at the earliest.
Jamie Freeman, owner of the aerodrome, said the Working Transport Museum would take the form of a new hangar, roughly 80m long and 30m wide. It would have climate control and offer a space to store a working de Havilland Dove and two Spitfires as well as a number of steam engines.
The scheme could also create a number of apprenticeships to train young people in engineering, upholstery, woodwork and to become wheelwrights.
Mr Freeman said: “We are at a very early stage and it will take at least a year.”
It is hoped the new museum could be partially paid for by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The carriage museum is now housed in the 14th- century stables of the medieval Archbishop’s Palace, once used by the Archbishop of Canterbury when travelling through the county.
It opened in 1946 after being gifted by Sir Garrard TyrwhittDrake, 12-time Mayor of Maidstone who had a great interest in horse drawn vehicles. Today it is seen as an important museum attraction in the County Town.
The exhibition is open around five months of the year on Friday, Saturdays and Sundays.