Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

Facilities:  Baby Changing   Cafe   Disabled Facilities   Interior Visit   Play Area   Shop   Toilets 

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard has a host of must-see attractions and there's plenty on offer for all ages with a vast array of free year-round activities with a valid ticket!

Explorers can learn history in fun ways with costumed interpreters, games, dressing-up, crafts, trails and talks. There's also lots of space for children to explore in their own way, including indoor attractions to cater for that ever-changing British weather!

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is home to world-famous ships, HMS Victory, HMS Warrior 1860 and the Mary Rose Museum, plus the National Museum of the Royal Navy, interactive, hands-on Action Stations - where the facilities and games can be enjoyed all year and Harbour Tours.

A ticket for Portsmouth Historic Dockyard gives entry to HMS Warrior 1860, HMS Victory, the Mary Rose Museum, the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Action Stations and Harbour Tours. This ticket also offers unlimited entry for one year to HMS Warrior 1860, the National Museum of the Royal Navy and Action Stations (subject to the events programme). Visit the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard website for ticket prices. Entrance to the Historic Dockyard is free for those wishing to visit the retailers, cafes and Antiques Storehouse.

Royal Naval Museum
The Royal Naval Museum is located at Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard, where it is housed in a Georgian warehouse. Here you can see a wide range of Naval artefacts including: figureheads, swords, ship models, uniforms and medals. You can discover more about Lord Horatio Nelson or experience the Interactive Sailing Navy Exhibition. Ramps provide access to all five galleries for wheelchair users.

The Great Ship Basin was the hub of the Portsmouth Dockyards in the age of sailing ships, and this area includes the world's oldest surviving stone dry dock dating from 1698.

You can take a 40 minute 'Warships by Water' boat trip around Portsmouth's Naval Base and see a number of the Royal Navy's Aircraft Carriers, destroyers, frigates, mine warfare ships and offshore patrol vessels.

The Tradewinds Restaurant is located in the restored No. 7 Boathouse where you can enjoy a snack or meal while the kids play in the Fighting Top playship.

Wheelchairs can be borrowed, free of charge.

HMS Victory
HMS Victory is the world's oldest surviving warship to still be in continuous use and remains the Second Sea Lord's Flagship.

Victory will always be associated with Lord Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar. By pure coincidence, Horatio Nelson was born in the same year (1758) that the Board of Admiralty placed the order for the battle ship on which he was later to be fatally wounded by a French marksman and die uttering the immortal words 'kiss me Hardy'.

The HMS Victory first saw active service in 1778 when equipped with 104 cannons on her 3 gun decks. Each cannon weighed up to 3.5 tonnes each, with the largest cannons on the lower gun deck propelling a huge 32 pound ball up to 1000 feet.

Victory is 227 feet long and fitted with 4 masts, the tallest of which is some 220 feet high. Any crew member falling from the masts could expect almost certain death, either on impact or by drowning. Many sailors couldn't swim!

Victory saw action in the Battle of Cape St Vincent and the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Between these battles the ship was used as a floating hospital. HMS Victory was removed from active service in 1812, after which she served as a floating depot in Portsmouth harbour. A campaign by the Society for Nautical Research was finally successful in 1922, when Victory was towed to her present home in the dry dock for restoration.

You can take a guided tour of HMS Victory and imagine the appalling conditions that the 821 crew and officers lived and worked in. Visit the Great Cabin where Lord Horatio Nelson planned the Battle of Trafalgar and the spot where he was fatally wounded by a French marksman.

HMS Victory is one of three magnificent battle ships at Flagship Portsmouth, the other 2 being the Henry VIII's Mary Rose and the worlds first iron battle ship; HMS Warrior 1860. You can also visit the Royal Naval Museum and The Great Ship Basin.

Victory has several flights of steep steps and is therefore unsuitable for the disabled, but a video tour can be seen in the Lower Gundeck.

Mary Rose
The Mary Rose, built in around 1511, was Henry VIII's favourite warship. She was one of the first ships to be built with gun ports that enabled broadside attacks, and is the only preserved 16th century warship in the world.

Over 35 years, the Mary Rose had a distinguished career, but was sunk accidentally in 1545 during a battle with the French.

Fortunately, the Mary Rose sank into a layer of silt, which had remarkable preservation qualities. Wood, cloth, bone, longbows, leather and even tiny objects such as seeds and insects were preserved for 450 years, until she was raised in 1982.

The Mary Rose was rediscovered in 1968 due largely to the efforts of the late Alexander McKee. Using side-scan sonar, he discovered an unusually shaped mound in the sea bed that could be attributed to just one thing - the Mary Rose. Several years of excavation, surveying and catlogueing of artefacts took place over the following years, until in 1982, after years of expectation and planning, her remains were finally raised to the surface.

The job of conserving the Mary Rose continues today, and it is anticipated that the vessel will have to be sprayed with a wax solution for a further 20 years, which will eventually replace the water in the timbers.

In the Museum you can see some of the 20,000 artefacts recovered from the vessel. The Mary Rose can be seen from the viewing gallery and is accessible to wheelchair users.