Wreck the halls…

News release issued: 11th December 2009

THE FIRST BRICK IS DEMOLISHED TO MAKE WAY FOR NEW MARY ROSE MUSEUM

The first brick on the site of the Mary Rose Ship Hall was demolished this morning to make way for the construction to begin on the new Mary Rose Museum, which will open in 2012.

At 12pm on Friday 11th December, John Lippiett (Chief Executive of the Mary Rose Trust), Michael Aiken (Chairman of the Mary Rose Trust) and Colin Crowther (Construction Director of Warings Contractors Ltd) took their hammers to the buildings surrounding the ship hall in a symbolic moment, as the dream of building a new museum to house the Mary Rose for all time is now underway.

The £35m project to build a permanent home for Henry VIII''s warship will see a discreet new boat-shaped building positioned over the dry dock in which the Mary Rose sits – itself a Scheduled Ancient Monument – where she is currently undergoing conservation. The design has been developed to maintain as extensive visitor access as possible, balancing the specific conservation conditions necessary to the ship’s preservation with the requirements of a world-class visitor attraction.

The Mary Rose Trust has received a £21 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to complete the conservation of the hull and build a permanent museum, which will also house the thousands of treasured artefacts found with the ship.

Images courtesy of Chris Dobbs, Mary Rose Trust

Editor’s notes:

Over 19,000 artefacts were raised from within the Mary Rose.
8 million people have visited the Mary Rose in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Currently visitors can see the Mary Rose Museum with an all-inclusive ticket which gives entry to the other iconic historic ships alongside namely HMS Victory, immortalised as Nelson''s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar; the Victorian HMS Warrior 1860 and the Royal Naval Museum. As well as the interactive Action Stations and Harbour Tours.
The new museum housing the hull of the Mary Rose will unite her with the artefacts and will open in 2012. The conservation of the hull will be complete in 2016 providing visitors with new and unique views of the vessel.
During the construction phase of the new museum and the temporary closure of the hull, the Mary Rose Museum has devised an imaginative programme of events and interpretations to give visitors a different, but equally fulfilling experience including a new introductory film narrated by TV historian Dan Snow, enhanced displays and an insight by experienced guides.
‘Mary Rose 500: recruiting the new crew’ is the public fundraising campaign being launched by the Mary Rose Trust, who have already raised £10 million towards a £14 million target, the amount that it must raise to contribute to the full £35million cost of the new museum project. The Heritage Lottery Fund has confirmed £21 million – which meets the rest of the cost. They are looking for 500 individuals, schools, businesses, organisations, clubs, societies, colleges, to come on board and symbolically become the ‘new crew’ of the Mary Rose, each pledging to raise £500 and become a part of the Mary Rose history. www.maryrose500.org
The importance of ‘500’ to the Mary Rose – the original crew numbered some 500 and it is the 500th anniversary this year of Henry VIII coming to the throne and of his commissioning of the Mary Rose. With funding secure, the new museum will also open in time to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the start of the ship’s operational life (2012).