Mary Rose grant fully approved
Celebrations to mark the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII’ s accession to the throne this year have come to a fitting culmination with the announcement that the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has recently given full approval for a £ 21m grant to the Mary Rose Trust.
The grant will enable work to begin to complete the conservation of the Tudor warship, the Mary Rose, and build a permanent museum for the ship associated artefacts in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
The Trust had until the end of June to reach £10m and trigger the heritage lottery fund money. The HLF has been an established supporter of the Mary Rose project, awarding almost £7m over the last 15 years.
There is still work to be done to reach the full £35m cost of the project and the Trust is busy launching a fundraising appeal for the remaining £4m at present.
John Lippiett, chief executive of the Mary Rose Trust said, ‘This is indeed great news. When better to celebrate than during the month which marks the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII”s accession – we think he would be delighted!’
Other celebrations to mark Henry VIII’s accession over the last few months have included a Ghost Ship Pageant put on to mark Henry VIII’s 18th birthday and the anniversary of when work started on the Mary Rose. The highlight of the event was a huge burning replica of the Mary Rose amid a twilight firework display.
There was also an evening talk by broadcaster and historian Dr David Starkey. ‘An evening with David Starkey’ at Action Stations in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard delivered a wonderfully witty and fascinating approach to Henry’s early life, before he became the tyrant that we have all become accustomed to hearing about.
Visitors are now being urged to visit the famous warship before it is hidden from view this autumn as work begins. The existing museum will stay open throughout construction and the hull will be represented with a new introductory film and time lapse photography.
The hull of the Mary Rose will continue to be sprayed with polyethylene glycol, a water based wax solution, behind closed doors until April 2011. The new museum being built around it will be opened in 2012 and the hull will be carefully dried within the new museum until it can be displayed fully in 2016, when visitors will be able to walk through the new display containing the ship itself .
By Anne-Marie Causer
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