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Eastgate House is a Grade I listed Elizabethan townhouse in Rochester, Kent, England. 〔 (【引用サイトリンク】 title= Name: EASTGATE HOUSE List entry Number: 1086482 ) 〕 It is notable for its association with author Charles Dickens, featuring as Westgate in ''The Pickwick Papers'' and as the Nun's House in ''The Mystery of Edwin Drood''. Now a Dickens Museum, the grounds of Eastgate House contain the Swiss chalet in which Dickens penned several of his novels. ==History== It was built in the 1590s for Sir Peter Buck, Mayor of Medway and Clerk of the Cheque at Chatham Dockyard.〔 The house then became home to five generations of his family. In 1687, the Parker family inhabited the house and then in the 1750s the Bartholemew family owned the house until the mid-18th century. In 1761, it was owned by Annabel Darwin. Then in 1791 it was occupied by James Reed. It is unclear who first set up a school on the site (James or his widow).〔 The school is mentioned in as a freeschool in 'The History and Antiquities of Rochester and Its Environs' by Samuel Denne in 1772. Eastgate House is famous for its association with Dickens, featuring as Westgate in ''The Pickwick Papers'' in 1836, and then as the Nun's House in ''The Mystery of Edwin Drood'' in 1870.〔 In 1870s, it became a private house once more, owned by Samual Shaw, a wholesale coal merchant. Who was born in Wandsworth, Surrey. This was to be their last home in England, before leaving for Canada.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Story of Samuel William Shaw and Helen Maria York )〕 It became a young men's hostel in 1890 and then a temperance restaurant in 1897. In 1903, Rochester City Council converted the building into a municipal library and museum in celebration of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Eastgate was then used a Dickens Museum (from 1923) and its grounds contain the Swiss chalet in which Dickens penned several of his novels, relocated from Gad's Hill in the 1960s.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Eastgate House )〕 In 2004, the Dickens Centre closed. In December 2012, Medway Council obtained £1.28 million in funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to transform the house into an exhibition centre for art and history events, with improved access and visitor facilities.〔 It is scheduled to re-open in 2015.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Eastgate House, Rochester」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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