The Mary Rose Museum & Southsea Castle: Tudor Day Trips From London
In this mini ‘day-out’ guide, we explore the Mary Rose Museum in the Historic Dockyards of Portsmouth. In my humble opinion, it is THE best Tudor-centric museum in the UK! So, let’s not waste any more time…
Portsmouth: Essential Travel Information
Travel:
- By Car: around 2 hours from central London. Portsmouth Historic Dockyard’s official parking is a 295-space car park located only 400 yards from the entrance at Victory Gate. If this car park is full, there are others within close proximity at Gunwharf Quays and Havant Street.
- By Train: The journey from London Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour takes 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours (depending on the train you catch).
- Price by Train: Train tickets typically start at around £38-50 (in 2024), depending on the ticket type.
- Journey Time: 1h 30 mins – 2 h (direct).
- Distance from Station to City Centre: 7 mins walk (0.4 miles).
Key Locations:
The History of the Mary Rose
Over the course of Henry VIII’s reign, power in Europe continually shifted between the two dominant forces, notably between the French, under King Francis I, and the Spanish, under the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Henry VIII and Henry’s England were often the third player in this interminable ménage à trois, with England’s involvement sporadically tipping the balance of power one way and then the other.
In 1544, Henry and Charles sealed a pact against the French. That year, the English King led a successful campaign in France, capturing Boulogne from French forces. However, not long after, the English were left high and dry after Charles negotiated peace with Francis (again!).
The following year, the French assembled an invasion force intent on conquering Henry’s England. The fleet of ships and the army they carried was assembled in the northern French port of Havre de Grace (modern-day Le Havre).
In early July, the enormous French fleet set sail for England under the command of Admiral Claude d’Annebault. On 16 July 1545, 128 ships entered the Solent (a narrow strip of water between the south coast of England and the Isle of Wight). The English were undoubtedly on the back foot, with its ‘army at sea’ being the smaller force, with the fleet comprising around 80 sailing ships.
The lack of wind initially meant that the English galleys were pinned in Portsmouth Harbour. However, the upside was that French forces could not come ashore with the harbour blocked by English ships. This stalemate persisted for three days. Then, on 19 July, the wind picked up, allowing the English fleet to join the offensive. The attack was led by the Henry Grace à Dieu and the Mary Rose, two of the largest ships in the English fleet.
Artefacts including a master gunner’s leather jerkin (bodice, with either fitted or detachable sleeves, and a skirt, worn over the top of linen shirts and doublets), with visible imprint from the wearer’s ribs; Bronze twelve-sided cannon, with the Royal Coat of Arms, Tudor Rose, initials and date engraved, All Images: Author’s own.
Early in the battle, with guns blazing, the Mary Rose sank. To this day, nobody knows for sure WHY this tragic event occurred. It is possible that she was hit by a cannonball from an enemy ship. However, there is an eyewitness account of a surviving Flemish crewman. His testimony was recorded by the Holy Roman Emperor’s ambassador, François van der Delft, in a letter dated 24 July. According to the unnamed Fleming, the ship had fired all of its guns on one side and was turning to present her weapons on the other side to the enemy ship when she was caught in a strong gust of wind, heeled and took in water through the open gunports.
As water rushed in, heavy fittings like cannons, cannonballs, and the colossal galley cauldron broke free from their fixings, adding to the weight imbalance, which caused the ship to sink more quickly. There was very little time to escape, and those who did make it on deck were trapped by the anti-boarding netting fixed across the deck.
Out of a crew of at least 400, fewer than 35 escaped, resulting in a casualty rate of over 90%. The even greater tragedy is that when the Mary Rise went down, the ship was close to a sandbank that could have prevented much of the boat from sinking below the water line, thus saving many more lives.
The Peter Pomegranate, sister ship to the Mary Rose.
Horrifically, the whole disaster was watched by Henry VIII from the shoreline, close to Southsea Castle, with the wife of the doomed ship’s captain by his side. Henry immediately ordered that the ship be raised. Several attempts were made but were thwarted largely because the Mary Rose had sunk into hard clay. The suction of the clay made the boat too heavy to raise using the available methods of the day. However, several items were salvaged, including valuable bronze guns. Eventually, defeated by nature, all attempts to raise the Mary Rose were abandoned and left to lie for nearly 500 years in its watery grave.
The Raising of the Mary Rose
The story of the raising of the Mary Rose is almost as fascinating as the tragic story of her sinking. There had long been interest in finding the shipwreck. It was briefly rediscovered in the mid-nineteenth century. Then, in the 1960s, a group of divers began a concerted effort to relocate the shipwreck. The Mary Rose was definitively discovered in 1971, and the next 11 years were devoted to the underwater excavation of the wreck. This yielded around 19,000 artefacts, which are now cared for by The Mary Rose Trust; many of the most fascinating of these are on display in the Mary Rose Museum.
Eventually, the wreck was raised from the sea bed in 1982 and brought to the Historic Dockyards, where the current museum was built around what remained of the ship’s hull. Alex Hildred, one of the divers who worked on salvaging the Mary Rose, once described it to me as an ‘intensive care unit’ for the boat. After bringing the ship ashore, the temperature and humidity had to be carefully controlled to prevent further deterioration of the remains of the hull. For many years, the timbers were treated extensively to preserve them. Thankfully, they have now been stabilised.
The Mary Rose Museum is one of the country’s most fascinating and well-presented museums of our time. We are lucky that it happens to be an incredible time capsule, a window onto everyday Tudor life, as much as it is a part of England’s naval history. When the ship sank, its contents were covered in layers of silt, progressively encasing the wreck. This acted to keep around 40 % of the hull and thousands of artefacts in a fabulous state of preservation. Thus, we are left with a snapshot of the sixteenth century, giving us unique access to the ordinary and extraordinary objects of Tudor life in a way that you will not see elsewhere.
Click here for the Mary Rose Website visitor information.
Southsea Castle
Southsea Castle is an approximately 5-10 minute drive by car or a 45-minute walk from The Mary Rose Museum. In, or close to this place, Henry VIII watched the Mary Rose sink under the waters of the Solent.
The castle was built as part of a line of coastal defences deemed necessary when Henry VIII and England were excommunicated by the Pope. The latter subsequently encouraged France and the Holy Roman Empire to attack England. With the threat of invasion a real possibility, defensive forts like Southsea, Walmer and Deal were hastily constructed.
Battle of the Solent, courtesy of Kester Keighley.
The one at Southsea was built to defend a deep water channel leading into Portsmouth Harbour. We know Henry was in the area and likely at Southsea during the Battle of the Solent, as he is shown at the castle in a set of paintings known as the famous Cowdray murals, one of which is a visual depiction of the events of 19 July 1545.
The fort is now open to the public, and it is moving to stand where a king once stood and watched one of the grandest vessels of his very own ‘army at sea’ disappear under the waves.
Southsea Castle is open from April to October and has no entrance fee. It offers fabulous views across the Solent and a nice cafe onsite. For its website and up-to-date visitor information, click here.
Other Tudor places to visit nearby:
Portchester Castle (7 miles)
Bishop’s Waltham (16 miles)
Tudor House Museum, Southampton (19 miles)
Weald and Downland Museum (26 miles)
Cowdray House (26 miles)
Winchester (30 miles)
Arundel Castle (31 miles)
