News
The Mary Rose to Sail Into Space?
During their visit to Portsmouth, the Atlantis Space Shuttle crew were presented with a piece of the Mary Rose, the flagship of King Henry VIII, with a view to sending it up to space on a future mission.
The presentation took place at a gala dinner Sunday 27th June, on board HMS Warrior 1860, another ship that accompanies the Mary Rose at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. John Lippiett, Chief Executive of the Mary Rose Trust, who made the presentation to the astronauts, commented:
“It is really tremendous to have the opportunity to present this little piece of the Mary Rose to the visiting Shuttle crew to take back to Houston, in the hope that it will be taken into space on a future mission.
This parrel, in effect a wooden ball-bearing measuring some 3x3”, was part of the mechanism used to hoist the yards carrying the sails up the mast. It was therefore fundamental to the propulsion of this our first true warship.
The Mary Rose was as revolutionary in technological advances 500 years ago as the Space Shuttle was in the early 1980s. Both have helped pioneer exploration and advance the sciences. It is most appropriate to mark their place in history in this manner.”
The last Atlantis mission from which they have just returned, saw the crew take a 4-inch long wood sample of Sir Isaac Newton's apple tree. The piece from the original tree that supposedly inspired Newton's theory of gravity, along with a picture of Newton, was taken into orbit by British-born astronaut Piers Sellers. The wood is part of the collection of the Royal Society archives in London, and will be returned there at the end of their tour. On a previous spaceflight, he took a commemorative medallion that the group presented to the physicist Stephen Hawking.
This won’t be the first time the Mary Rose has had links to space - Michael Foale CBE, the first Briton to perform a space walk and record holder for cumulative-time-in-space for a UK citizen, was a volunteer diver on the excavation of the Mary Rose in 1981.
The Mary Rose sank in 1545 in the Battle of the Solent. She was raised in 1982 with her artefact collection of 19,000 objects presenting a unique time capsule and one of the world’s most precious heritage icons.
The Mary Rose 500 Appeal are currently fundraising to secure the building of the new Mary Rose Museum to open in 2012, which will reunite the hull with her artefacts and ensure completion of the conservation in 2016 providing visitors with new and unique views of the vessel - visit www.maryrose500.org
Mon 28 June
Hatch at Crufts®
Hatch – The Ship’s Dog - received an enthusiastic reception when she appeared at Crufts® last week.
We now know more about her breed. Thanks to the Kennel Club experts who looked closely at her skeleton, it is now thought the Mary Rose Terrier is probably the forerunner of the Black and Tan Terrier, now known as the Manchester Terrier.
Visitors to Crufts were generous in their support for our Appeal.
We have now raised £31 million of our £35 million target but still have some way to go. Remember every £1 you give is matched by generous support from Hampshire County Council, and, if you are a UK tax payer, we can also claim Gift Aid.
‘Hatch’: The Ship’s Dog
The almost complete skeleton of a small dog was recovered near the doorway of the carpenter’s cabin. This had a sliding door; perhaps she was trapped here as the Mary Rose heeled over and sank.
The animal was a healthy, young bitch, between eighteen months and two years old. She may have been on the ship as a mascot or a pet, perhaps the carpenter’s dog. She certainly would have helped get rid of the rats.
We have called her ‘Hatch’, she is the world’s oldest lost sea dog. She will go on display at Crufts® dog show at the NEC from 11th-14th March, before returning to take up a permanent home in the Mary Rose Museum for the first time since the ship mysteriously sank in 1545.
But funding is needed for her future home: We are on a journey to build ‘Hatch’s’ final home - the ambitious new Mary Rose museum project; that must be realised to secure the future of ‘Hatch’ and the Mary Rose.
So let’s make sure ‘Hatch’ isn’t homeless for another 500 years: Help ‘Give a Dog a Home’ and make a donation to ‘Hatch’s’ new home - £2, £5 or £10 – whatever is possible.
Click here to Donate directly to the Hatch Fund!
The new museum will provide an understanding of ‘Hatch’s’ life in Tudor times: A world class museum where many more previously unseen artefacts will be on view and visitors will be able to step back in time to understand the life of ‘Hatch’ and her crew mates on- board a Tudor warship – seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, almost touching Tudor life.
08 Mar 2010
Did This Man Sink The Mary Rose?
For the first time in Portsmouth, the face of a member of the crew of the Mary Rose can be seen, thanks to advanced facial reconstruction techniques based on biomedical and archaeological research.
This Thursday 11th February 2010, will see a special unveiling in the Mary Rose Museum of the spectacular facial reconstruction of the Bosun from the Mary Rose.
First seen on display at the Hidden Treasures exhibition at Whitgift School in South Croydon, the reconstructed head of the Bosun has now been gifted to the Mary Rose Trust to be put on display in time for Half-Term, amongst the vast collection of everyday objects found on board the fated warship.
John Lippiett (Chief Executive of the Mary Rose Trust) commented that “it is great to have the opportunity to see what the Bosun looked like after all these years and to welcome his arrival in our Museum”.
The head has been modelled by the internationally renowned forensic artist Richard Neave and two of his colleagues, from a skull recovered from the wreck. Only a handful of the more than 500 crew and soldiers survived when the ship sank in July 1545 and Henry VIII was reported to have heard the screams of the drowning men as he helplessly stood and watched from Southsea Castle.
In a few cases it is possible to suggest the occupations of individuals by the scientific study of the skeleton and associated objects. This man was found with the emblem of his comparatively senior status, his Bosun's call - a whistle - suggesting he was the man who may have been at least partly responsible for the disaster.
There are many theories about why the ship sank, but evidence from the wreck itself suggests the ship put about with its gunports open, was hit by a squall and sank like a stone. Ensuring that the gunports were closed would have been the Bosun's job. The Mary Rose settled deep into the silty bed of the Solent, which preserved the many thousands of unique artefacts in excellent condition.
The Bosun's skull was typical of the preservation of the collection, providing a window into everyday Tudor life: the historian David Starkey has called the Mary Rose "England's Pompeii". The excellent condition of the human remains makes reconstruction relatively straightforward. Neave commented that “it was a pleasure to work on” and had “lots of character”.
Experts have analysed the skeleton and teeth, and concluded the man was in his late 30s or early 40s. Although doing a relatively sedentary job, his skeleton indicates he had previously undertaken heavy work, suggesting he had risen through the ranks. The teeth revealed that he came from south-west England.
Neave builds up the heads from his extensive database on the relationship between skull, muscles and features. Details of the Bosun's skin, hair and eyes are conjecture, based on research on Tudor styles, and his outdoor life.
A plaster cast was made of the skull, onto which the head was built. Measurements were pegged enabling facial muscles to be built up. Features such as eyes and ears were added next, followed by a thin layer of ‘fat’ and then a skin-like substance, made from a thin layer of clay. The acrylic eyes were prepared at the specialist NHS eye unit at Blackpool. "By his age the edge of the iris is less sharply defined, and the white more veined," Neave said, "and I think of him in the chaos of the gun deck in battle, scrubbing his eyes with his knuckles to try to clear his vision."
Thanks to Neave’s skills we are now able to see the face of a man who either struggled desperately to try to save the Mary Rose, or was responsible for the fatal error which led to her sinking.
10 Feb 2010
Rosary beads, a rocking horse and Banksy’s Paintpot Angel – objects that help tell a history of England and its relationship to the wider world
BBC English Regions has partnered with museums and institutions across the country to help tell a history of the world through objects with both local and global resonances.
The project is part of A History of the World - which includes the landmark British Museum series on BBC Radio 4, A History of the World in 100 Objects.
The BBC’s 45 local websites across England have partnered with their local and regional museums to each produce a list of 10 objects that tell a history of that area and its place in the world. The lists will be live on BBC Local websites from today (Monday 18 January) and there will be extensive coverage on BBC local radio and regional television. The weekly regional current affairs series Inside Out will feature the project across the eleven English Regions to coincide with the launch.
The 450 objects chosen from around the country include:
BBC Wear and Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens - Victorian rocking horse
This children’s toy was given out at the end of Mr Fay’s magic show at the Victoria Hall in Sunderland on what proved to be a fateful day - June 16, 1883. A young girl called Emily Steel was given the toy, but a boy grabbed at it and took the front legs and rocker. This year, the children in the upstairs gallery anxious not to miss out on the presents, ran down the stairs. They found their passage blocked by a door which opened inwards. A few children squeezed through, but those following were crushed against the door. In all, 183 children died. The whole nation was affected by the disaster, including Queen Victoria, who made a donation to the memorial fund. An inquiry followed, as a result of which all emergency exits were required to open outwards as they do to this day.
BBC Hampshire and The Mary Rose Trust – Rosary beads from the Mary Rose
This rosary offers an intriguing insight into a tumultuous period of our history in the reign of Henry VIII. It was a period which saw the break with Rome, the dissolution of the monasteries, and the rise of Protestantism – events that would shape Europe and the world in the centuries ahead. In 1538, Henry VIII’s religious reforms banned recitations using the rosary to pray. Yet in 1545 this rosary was on board the King’s own flagship, the Mary Rose, when it sank at the Battle of the Solent against the French. The ship with its surviving contents was finally raised in 1982.
BBC York and North Yorkshire and The Royal Pump Room Museum Harrogate - Russian Imperial cufflinks
In May and June of 1894 Princess Alix of Hesse, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, visited Harrogate. She stayed at the lodging house of an ordinary couple, Mr and Mrs Allen. On her arrival there she discovered that Mrs Allen had just given birth to twins and seeing the event as a lucky omen she asked if she could stand as their godmother. She also requested that the girl should be called Alix, after her, and the boy Nicholas, after the Czarevitch of Russia to whom she was engaged to be married. The gold cufflinks made by Fabergé, in the shape of the Imperial Russian Eagle set with diamonds and sapphires, were given to Nicholas Allen as a confirmation present in 1910.
Other jewels and objects made by the Russian Imperial Workshops and given to Nicolas and Alix by their godmother, who become the Czarina of Russia, were presented to Harrogate Museums by Mr Allen's son in the 1980s.
BBC Guernsey and Hauteville House - Victor Hugo’s writing table
This humble piece of wood was where the exiled genius Victor Hugo completed Les Miserables and subsequently wrote his Guernsey-based novel Les Travailleurs de la Mer, as well as hundreds of essays, letters and poems. Hugo stood to write, rather than sitting. He installed it in his airy, well-lit Cristal-Room built on the top of Hauteville House in Saint Peter Port in Guernsey so that he could see across the other Channel Islands to his beloved France as he wrote. He was exiled from France after opposing Napoleon III and went initially to Belgium, to Jersey and then to Guernsey. He stayed for 15 years, from 1856-70, influencing writers and artists. His house – just as he left it – is today internationally considered as a significant part of his work and a unique cultural heritage.
BBC Birmingham and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery - Glascote Torc
This superbly crafted object made more than 2,000 years ago, was discovered by a worker in a boatyard on the Coventry canal in 1943 between Glascote and Amington, near Tamworth. The finder thought it was a handle from a coffin and his employers told him to "keep it as a souvenir". For many years it remained unknown to the archaeological world until 1970 when his wife read an article about similar objects discovered in Ipswich. It was found to be a ‘torc’ - a neck ring made out of gold, silver, bronze or, as here, an alloy of all three. They were worn by Celtic chiefs and other important dignitaries of the Iron Age, perhaps as a symbol of their office and power, certainly as a symbol of their wealth and status. After belatedly reporting the find it became the subject of a coroner's inquest, and was declared to be Treasure Trove, subsequently acquired by Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery with the help of money raised by public appeal.
BBC Lancashire and Harris Museum, Preston - Teetotal teapot
In the 19th century tea in Preston represented for some an alternative to alcohol, perceived as one of the greatest social evils of the day, especially among the working classes. Preston is the birthplace of teetotalism where Joseph Livesey in 1832 started his Temperance Movement, requiring followers to pledge total abstinence – hence the term ‘teetotal’. He opened the first temperance hotel in 1833 and in 1834 founded the first temperance magazine The Temperance Advocate. Livesey was instrumental in developing the movement into a worldwide phenomenon. Preston holds internationally important collections of objects and archives relating to the temperance movement.
BBC Bristol and Bristol Museum and Art Gallery - Paintpot Angel installed by Banksy
Banksy’s urban art has a universal and timeless appeal, the bandit and folk hero fighting corporate culture. In summer 2009 Banksy – a native of Bristol - carried out an audacious 'heist' by transforming Bristol Museum and Art Gallery overnight. The collision of urban art with the establishment museum highlighted a new attitude to culture. The exhibition was probably the most publicised art event in living memory and the most popular exhibition ever held in Bristol.
BBC Norfolk and Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery - Happisburgh hand axe
An object of huge international significance, this beautiful flint hand axe was found on a Norfolk beach in 2000 by a local man walking his dog. Norfolk's east coast is subject to rapid erosion and the action of the sea had exposed a very ancient archaeological deposit that was only revealed at low tide. The hand axe was discovered within a thick peaty deposit which was subsequently dated to around 700,000 years old. This single discovery showed that humans had been present in Britain some 700,000 years ago - 200,000 years earlier than had previously been known.
In addition to the objects chosen by BBC Local websites and their partner museums, audiences will be encouraged to upload pictures via the internet of objects they own and explain how these objects can help tell both local and global histories. The ambition is to create a unique digital museum online of objects that tell history through the eyes of collections and audiences throughout the UK.
BBC Project Manager for the Nations and English Regions, Seamus Boyd, said: “A truly fascinating range of objects has been chosen across the English regions. Some of them may have great monetary value, others little or none, but they're priceless in how they bring to life moments from history. This initial selection is just the blueprint to which we hope viewers and listeners will add their own objects and help to create a truly unique and vibrant tapestry of the past.
Craig Henderson, Head of Programming for BBC English Regions, said: "A multitude of stories lie behind these objects. Some of the stories are moving, some uplifting, each one helping to piece together our cultural and social history. Of course, it's by no means definitive, and we'll be encouraging our audiences across BBC Local Radio, regional television and our websites, to contribute their own objects and stories."
Mon 18 Jan 2010
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