An author and historian is donating the proceeds of his latest Charles Dickens book towards a £1 million fund to restore the Swiss Chalet which the writer used as a study.

The once ornate 160-year-old wooden structure, which was shipped to the UK by a French friend, has now fallen into disrepair in Eastgate gardens, Rochester.

Previously it was sited in the grounds of Dickens' home at Gad's Hill in Higham before he died in June 1870.

Geoff Ettridge, whose latest publication is Rochester – A Monument to Dickens? has launched a personal appeal to get the chalet repaired following a remark from an Australian tourist.

He said: "I was conducting a tour when the woman asked me 'where is the monument to Dickens?' I replied there isn't one. And she told me there was one in Sydney.

"I added that Rochester was the monument to Dickens because he wrote about so many places in the town.

"The Swiss Chalet is something personal to him because we know how he used it as a study."

It is now being stabilised by steel railings and is in danger of falling apart having weathered the elements for more than 150 years.

The retired Medway Council manager added: "It's made from soft wood and was not designed for a long life.

"Also where it is, the ground is very damp. It needs taking apart and to be put in another location.

"I've had people on my tours who don't even know it's there. It needs to be in a more prominent position, perhaps the Castle grounds where people can appreciate it. "

Dickens himself wrote in his will that "on no account did he want a monument, memorial or testimonial whatever".

He also stipulated he wanted to be buried near his home and a grave was dug for him near Rochester Cathedral.

But the powers that be and his son deemed a man of such distinction should be laid to rest at Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.

The chalet arrived at the author's home in 94 pieces on Christmas Eve in 1864.

Dickens attempted to construct the two-storey structure himself but his early DIY project failed disastrously so he approached the stage carpenter of the Lyceum Theatre in London for help.

It was accessed by an underpass he had built earlier because he was unhappy with the traffic and mud and had views over the River Thames.

Dickens also used it as a retreat and bought a telescope so he could see passing boats.

His biographer John Forster said inside the chalet where Dickens penned five of his novels, were five mirrors and several bronze ornaments of toads in comical situations.

After his death, the chalet was passed on to his eldest son and in later years to Lord Darnley who erected it in the grounds of Cobham Park.

During the Second World War it was disguised in camouflage paint to protect it from the enemy

It moved to Eastgate House in the early 1960s when it was known as the Dickens Museum at Eastgate.

The Rochester and Chatham branch of the Dickens Fellowship has been running a fundraising campaign for many years, the City of Rochester Society has also set up an account.

Apart from proceeds of the book, which is available at the Visitor Information Centre in Rochester High Street, Geoff is also donating any cash he gets from his tour parties.

The marble statue in Australia is in Centennial Park, Sydney.

Dickens never went to Australia, but two of his sons emigrated to New South Wales.

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