Gad's Hill Place

Paul ‘scruffy’ Martin looks at Gads Hill Place in Higham, Kent, sometimes spelt Gadshill Place and Gad's Hill Place, was the country home of Charles Dickens, the most successful British author of the Victorian era. The house was built in 1780 for a former Mayor of Rochester, Thomas Stephens, opposite the Sir John Falstaff Public House. As a boy, Charles Dickens would often walk from Chatham to Gads Hill Place as he wished to see it again and again as an image of his possible future. Thirty-five years later, after Dickens had risen to fame and wealth, he discovered that the house was for sale and bought it for £1,790 in March 1856 from Mrs Lynn Linton. Initially Dickens bought the house as an investment, intending to let it, but changed his mind and used it instead as a country retreat, moving into the house in June 1857.