Dartford Central Library and Museum is a

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

in the town centre of

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. The library was opened on 1 January 1916 by A. W. Smale, Chairman of the Dartford Urban District Council, and W. A. Ward, the Chairman of the Library Committee. Its first browsers were soldiers in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

who were staying nearby in military hospitals, recovering from wounds received while serving in the trenches. Dartford Central Library was constructed with the aid of a grant from the philanthropist,

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans in ...

. It was designed by Thomas E. Tiffin AMICE, the then-Dartford Urban District Council surveyor, and built in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

by Messrs H. Friday and Sons and Ling, using Portland and York stone. In 1937 the library was expanded over what was once the Dartford tin works. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

its cupola dome served as an air raid watchpost. In 2016 the library had a major refit and internal access created between it and Dartford Museum. The library also opened the Peter Blake Gallery for the display of works by local artists. Today, Dartford Library is open Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 16:00, with these limited hours as a result of the pandemic. It is run by

Kent County Council Kent County Council is a county council that governs most of the non-metropolitan county, county of Kent in England. It is the upper tier of elected local government, below which are 12 non-metropolitan district, district councils, and around ...

. The library featured in ''

Most Haunted ''Most Haunted'' is a British paranormal reality television series. Following complaints, the broadcast regulator, Ofcom, ruled that it was an entertainment show, not a legitimate investigation into the paranormal, and "should not be taken seri ...

''.Northern Ghost Investigations
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References

The most haunted team hears some whining or crying noises in the library which was the voice of Kathleen the daughter of the librarian who also worked there .

External links

Kent County Council libraries siteMost Haunted
Dartford Carnegie libraries in England 1916 establishments in England Grade II listed buildings in Kent Libraries in Kent {{Library-struct-stub