The Mary Rose Needs You!

The ship was famously raised from the Solent back in 1982. The project, the largest underwater excavation ever, had originated with the vision of Hayling Island historian Alexander McKee, who had begun diving to rediscover Henry VIII’s favourite warship in 1965.

Henry VIII’s flagship for 34 years, it sank just two years before Henry’s reign ended. The Tudor era vessel is heralded as the start of the modern Royal Navy and the beginnings of a 350 year period of warship design.

The new museum will allow more of the 19,000 artefacts raised from the wreck to be displayed. Only 6% of these artefacts are currently on display to the public in the present museum due to space constraints. It will also allow the hull of the ship and the museum to be on display together for the first time.

Built over the dry dock which currently houses the hull of the ship, the new museum will give visitors the chance to get up close to the ship. A walkway will take visitors right through the very centre of the museum, enabling them to feel that they are looking at a living warship. The proposed building has been designed by Wilkinson Eyre, with Pringle Brandon as the interior architects, Land Design Studio will be the exhibition design consultants, whilst Gifford will have a role as the multi-disciplinary engineers.

The museum will help cement Portsmouth Historic Dockyard as a major worldwide visitor destination and will also be recognised as a centre of excellence for both maritime archaeology and specialised conservation.

The opening of the museum will coincide with both the London Olympics in 2011 and the ship’s 500^th anniversary of the Mary Rose’s maiden voyage. It will be located alongside Nelson’s flagship ‘HMS Victory’ and a short walk from ‘HMS Warrior’ and the Royal Naval Museum.

The aim is to quadruple the educational space in the museum and incorporate a café, shop and corporate entertainment area to bring in further revenue for the ship’s future preservation.

The Mary Rose Trust must raise matching funding of £14m within a year in order to qualify for the first stage of the Heritage Lottery Grant funding. If this is successful, the Trust can progress to stage two and submit a further, fully developed application to secure the full £21m grant towards the total project cost of some £35m. The generosity of private individuals and companies will play a significant role in this. There are a multitude of opportunities for support, from corporate sponsorship of all parts of the new museum, to one-off or repeated grants to the Trust, or donation of goods or services in kind.

Fundraising manager, Lucy Hone told Maritime Journal, ‘The Mary Rose is an iconic part of British history. What better chance is there for companies to have their name associated with a national treasure which has moulded their own industry?’

For further information visit http://www.maryrose.org or contact Lucy Hone at l.hone@maryrose.org or Peter Taylor at p.taylor@maryrose.org. For information about visiting the Mary Rose, visit: http://www.historicdockyard.co.uk/

By Anne-Marie Causer