A museum has announced it must shut due to a funding crisis.

The Huguenot Museum in Rochester will close its doors to the public from next week after it says it was "hit hard" by the Covid pandemic.

Despite an emergency grant of £59,400 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and private donors’ support, the museum has not been able to raise enough funding to continue in its present form.

The trustees say they will work to put together a rescue plan and they hope the museum will reopen in spring next year.

The attraction was opened in 2015 thanks to a £1.3 million grant from The National Lottery and it is the only museum in the country dedicated to the story of Huguenot refugees, Protestants who were escaping persecution in France, from the 1500s into the early 1700s.

More than 50,000 Huguenots settled in England, where they made a great impact with their extraordinary skills in crafts such as silk weaving, silversmithing, clockmaking, bookbinding and other occupations such as banking, medicine and the military.

The museum, just off Rochester High Street, also celebrates the legacy of the Huguenots through exhibitions of contemporary craft alongside a programme of talks and workshops.

Since July 2021 the museum has been opening one day per month, with one member of

staff, supported by a team of volunteers.

Over the last six years, it has helped many hundreds of visitors uncover their Huguenot ancestors.

The building also has a well-used venue hire space, home to Rochester Film Society which screened French films four times a year.

The museum was set up by The French Hospital, an almshouse charity in Rochester founded in London in 1718, by Royal Charter, to support Huguenot refugees. The French Hospital moved to Rochester in the 1950s and continues to operate today. The bulk of the Huguenot Museum's collection is on loan from The French Hospital.

The museum will be open for the last time this year on Friday and Saturday 10.30am to 4.30pm.

Bridget Chapman, of the Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN), said: "This is absolutely devastating news for many of us working in the refugee and migrant sector. The Huguenot Museum has been a tremendous supporter of KRAN and the young people that we work with.

"They have partnered with us on various initiatives that have developed the confidence and the skills of young refugees, and have always sought to amplify the voices of lived experience.

"Their presence in Kent strengthens and enriches our community, and the work that they do in encouraging positive conversations about migration is absolutely vital.

"I can't stress enough what a loss this is and I hope that a way is found to reopen this gem of an institution at the earliest opportunity."

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