COMPUTER technology has enabled Dover Museum to obtain three rare watercolours by the town's most eminent artist William Burgess.

The museum secured the paintings on the electronic internet auction website Ebay after a member of the public told the institution they were for sale there.

Two of the pictures depict the camp of the 41st Regiment on the Western Heights and the funeral of Sgt Monger at Archcliffe Fort and are originals of well-known lithograph engravings.

The third is an unusual view of the interior of the Drop Redoubt fort with Dover Castle in the background.

William Burgess moved to Dover in the late 1830s and exhibited at the Royal Academy and the Society of British Arts from 1835 to 1856. He died in the town in 1861.

His last 20 years were his most productive and he attracted many pupils to his Castle Street school.

He produced many lithographic views of Dover but his original works are uncommon. Few are known outside the town museum's collection.

Mark Frost, senior assistant curator at Dover Museum, said: "Dover Museum is particularly keen to preserve Burgess material and we actively collect all his works.

"We are delighted and very excited to have been able to secure these important additions to our collection and it is great to have been able to use the technology of today to complement our record of the past."