The Mary Rose

The Mary Rose was King Henry VIII’s favourite warship and served for 34 years until she sank off the coast of Portsmouth in 1545 during the Battle of the Solent defending England against a French invasion fleet. Attempts to salvage her failed and she was lost until a dedicated team of divers located her in 1971. She was raised from The Solent in 1982 on live TV in front of a worldwide audience of 60 million.

The only Tudor ship on display anywhere in the world is housed in a purpose-built museum in Portsmouth, which received significant National Lottery funding. When the current museum opened in May 2013, the hull was exhibited within a hotbox and was only viewable through small windows and partially obscured by drying ducts. After reaching a stable drying state in 2016, the ducts were removed and the windows were replaced with floor to ceiling glass, providing uninterrupted views of the ship from all nine galleries, apart from the upper floor where visitors can breathe the same air as the Mary Rose.

The Trust works hard to ensure that the museum is accessible to all with lifts to every floor, large print guides in the galleries, mornings with increased lighting levels and guides for autistic visitors to read before they come.