Next phase of Mary Rose conservation goes ahead despite disappointment over museum grant
Media facility: Dr Margaret Rule CBE will be switching on the new spray system at the Mary Rose ship hall in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard tomorrow at 10.30am. Also in attendance will be the Chairman of The Mary Rose Trust Admiral Sir Kenneth Eaton; the Chief Executive Rear Admiral John Lippiett MBE and Head of Collections Dr Mark Jones. Please confirm your attendance to Jacquie Shaw, PR Manager, 023 92 89 5550.
The Mary Rose Trust is disappointed that its Heritage Lottery Fund bid for £13.5m towards the planned £23m new museum was not supported at the recent HLF Trustees meeting. However, work continues with the switching on, tomorrow (Thursday, 27th July), of the new spray system by former Director of Archaeology, Dr Margaret Rule CBE, to start the next phase of conservation.
The Trust is determined to proceed with its ambition to re-unite the objects from the Mary Rose with the ship's hull in its present location next to HMS Victory and to give the Mary Rose a permanent home in which to preserve it for all time. The new museum, to a highly-innovative design by award-winning architects Wilkinson Eyre, will enable visitors to see the ship – the flagship of King Henry VIII’s Tudor navy – as she has never been seen before.
The Mary Rose bid was not supported by the HLF because the project, as it currently stands, was not yet considered capable of delivering its vision for a world class museum. However the HLF stated that: “The Mary Rose is one of the most important pieces of our nation’s heritage and the Trust rightly considers that such a treasure deserves a truly world-class museum to tell the story effectively. We have been a huge supporter of the Mary Rose in the past awarding nine grants of over £5.6million and we hope to work with the Trust to realise its ambitions in the future.”
Despite this setback, the Trust is tomorrow celebrating the start of the second phase of conservation of the hull by switching on the new spray containing a thicker, more concentrated, polyethylene glycol (PEG). They will be working closely with the HLF over the plans for the third and final air drying phase.
Dr Margaret Rule, the Maritime Archaeologist who
directed the excavation and salvage of the Mary Rose in the l970s
and 1980s says:
“The spirit of the Mary Rose is undiminished and I am confident
that the Trust will get the help it needs to fulfil the dream of
creating a permanent museum to house both the ship and the finds
safely and imaginatively for all to enjoy. It gives me great pleasure
to mark the next, crucial stage of conservation by turning on the
new spray system.”
Rear Admiral John Lippiett, Chief Executive
of The Mary Rose Trust commented:
“The Mary Rose project has only got this far with the enthusiastic
support of the HLF and we look forward to working with them to achieve
our ultimate ambition of a new museum worthy of one of the world’s
most outstanding maritime icons.”
July 27th 2006
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