Porter’s Lodge

The Mary Rose ticket office

A recent addition to the Mary Rose’s list of historic buildings is Porter’s Lodge, which serves as our ticket office at the Dockyard gates. This is what is known as the Porter’s Lodge, an historic building constructed in 1708 as a residence for the dockyard Porter, who was in charge of the security of Portsmouth Dockyard. It’s almost ironic that a building designed for someone to keep people out of the dockyard is now dedicated to welcoming them in!

Porter’s Lodge is a grade 2* listed building, and the oldest one in Portsmouth naval base. Indeed, the only older structure on site is the Mary Rose, by around 150 years

Of course, we’re not the only residents of the Porters Lodge, upstairs are the offices of the National Museum of the Royal Navy, and towards the rear is Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust. Beyond that is the Porter’s Garden, a historic garden maintained by the Friends of the Porter’s Garden. Visitors are welcome to have a look around and enjoy the garden.

Building 1/10

Not open to the public

This building is located against the Dockyard wall in College Road, the original construction dates from 1807 and was then used as a guard house but in 1909 this was incorporated into a new building giving us what we see today. The windows facing south onto Queen Street were also inserted at this time. From 1951 the building served as Police quarters, then in 1986 we took occupation and now use it for our main offices.

Building 1/11

Only open to the public during Heritage Open Days

This building is located to the rear of 1/10 and is Grade 2 listed as it was constructed in 1754.

It began life as the original Pay Office and was extended in 1808 with a fire-proof building containing a brick built vaulted ceiling, supported on iron columns. It is probably the earliest example of such a building in a naval dockyard and also contained a strong room and safe, which is still present. Charles Dickens’s father, John Dickens, worked here as a clerk from 1805-1814 before moving with his family to London in 1815.

It was originally a two storey building but the upper floor was destroyed by bombing, however the fireproofing stopped the fire spreading downwards. The Mary Rose Trust currently uses this building as archaeological workshops and for the storage of artefacts. It was also where the mounts for the thousands of artefacts in the Mary Rose Museum were made and tested.

The Block Mills

Not open to the public

This building lies within the Naval Base itself but can be glimpsed from the rear of the new museum across the adjacent dock. Constructed between 1802 and 1807 it is Scheduled Ancient Monument No 395. One of the most historically important buildings in Portsmouth Naval Base, it is the site of the world’s first mechanized, mass production process using Marc Brunel’s famous steam powered, block-making machines. It was at the leading edge of the industrial revolution and by 1808 there were 45 machines making over 130,000 pulley blocks a year, making it one of the most important industrial buildings in this country.

The blocks were used for controlling ships rigging and ropes on gun carriages. Marc Brunel’s famous son Isambard Kingdom was born in Portsmouth and went on to be a great engineer in his own right.   Work here ceased in the 1960’s and the building is now awaiting development. The Mary Rose Trust occupies part of the underground tunnel system to store timbers that are awaiting conservation; this system of tunnels would have originally been for providing water for the steam engines.

Chain Test House

Not open to the public

This building is within the Naval Base itself, accessed through Lion Gate under the Semaphore Tower but can been seen from the jetty of HMS Warrior.

Built around 1905 it was used for testing anchors, cables, chains, rope, and wires. The floor is made up of hundreds of iron blocks which were once ballast, probably from the ships of the Georgian Navy. During the 1960’s an anchor for HMS Victorious was being tested, a 1930’s aircraft carrier which saw service in WW2.The anchor broke and as they were unable to remove it, it still sits within the building next to our preservation tanks.

No 3 Dry Dock (beneath The Mary Rose)

Not open to the public

This Grade 1 listed dock was completed in 1803 and is Scheduled Ancient Monument SM397.

It was the first dry dock to be built using the inverted stone arch principle pioneered by Samuel Bentham, Inspector General of Naval Works. Since October 1982 No 3 Dock has contained the remains of the hull of the Mary Rose. From 1982 until 2010 she was inside a specially constructed aluminium and insulated fabric structure to protect her from the elements and enable us to carry out the preservation work.

In 2010 work began on building the new museum which you see today and which was opened to the public on 31st May 2013.