Historical stories, conservation and collections updates and other stories from the Mary Rose
You may have seen that we’ve revised our reconstruction of the Archer Royal, previously shown as a blond, blue-eyed European, to a gentleman of African descent. This hasn’t been done for political or social reasons, but as the result of detailed scientific study.
No ship’s manifest for the Mary Rose...
These were all hot topics as the Mary Rose Learning Department hosted a CPD day for primary science teachers. The event, run in collaboration with the Maths and Science Learning Centre at the University of Southampton, also featured speakers from the University of Chichester and Abingdon Science Partnership. The purpose...
An inventory of “stuff, tackle, apparel, ordnance, artillery and habiliments of War” made on 27th July 1514, lists the Mary Rose carrying, among all the rigging and weapons, a quantity of cookware, including a frying pan! We’ve no idea if it remained on board until 1545, or if it got...
The team at the Mary Rose are working with researchers from the Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton and Traditional Boats of Ireland Project to learn more about the longbows recovered from Henry VIII's flagship, lost in the waters of the Solent off the Portsmouth coast.
We always talk about Alexander McKee being the person who discovered the wreck of the Mary Rose, but actually, there are a few people who got up close to Henry VIII's flagship while she was still on the sea bed long before he first laid eyes on her timbers...
Branding is everything. Everybody recognises the Nike swoosh, the Apple logo, or the McDonalds Arches, because they’re everywhere. In England during the time of the Mary Rose, the most prominent image was the Tudor Rose, symbol of the Royal Family, and of the king, Henry VIII.
While the Tudor Rose...
The dog, nicknamed "Hatch" by our team, was discovered on the seabed on 12th July 1981 outside the carpenter’s cabin, under a pile of chests belonging to the carpenter and several gunners.
Most of what we consider "Christmas" comes from the Victorians, but the Tudors had their own Christmas traditions too. How many do you know?
While today relations between England and Scotland are mostly civil, it’s not always been that way. Scotland were long-time allies of France, so in 1513 King James IV of Scotland demanded that the English army withdraw from French Soil. Henry, unsurprisingly, declined, so James IV built up an army of...