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£5m lottery handout kick-starts new Royal Marines museum in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
22 July 2024
Work can begin to give the Royal Marines a museum again thanks to £5m of lottery cash.
Museum bosses in Portsmouth have been given the money they need to celebrate the deeds by the Royal Marines with displays befitting both a mid-21st Century museum and an elite fighting force with an unmatched 360-year history.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund was impressed by the plans for the new museum complex – having rejected the original project several years ago, leaving the Corps without a building telling its rich story.
The Corps’ long-standing museum in Eastney closed in 2017 as the building needed urgent renovation and was regarded as unsuitable for meeting the expectations of present-day visitors.
Instead, the National Museum of the Royal Navy – responsible for the four main museums which tell the story of the Senior Service and its various branches/arms – looked to revamp Boathouse No.6 in the historic dockyard (the iconic yomper statue which dominates the eastern Southsea seafront has remained in place due to popular demand).
Since the initial lottery bid was turned down, museum chiefs have rethought and redesigned the planned galleries – spanning 400 square metres of exhibition space (the size of 1½ tennis courts).
It’s also allowed curators and experts to log the two million Royal Marine-associated objects and artefacts in the museum’s inventory in a specialist £2m state-of-the-art ‘collections centre’.
The resulting £9.5m new museum will feature a multimedia/interactive journey through the Corps’ history, allowing visitors not only to learn about who the Royal Marines are – past and present – but encourage them to take on a number of tasks designed to give a taste of the level of physical and mental fitness required to do the job.
The building will also house a new dedicated gallery for temporary exhibitions spanning all aspects of Royal Navy history.
In awarding £4.9m, Stuart McLeod, Director England - London & South at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said the new plans offered “a world-class museum” which would allow visitors to immerse themselves in the Royal Marines experience and remind the public of “the important heritage of the Royal Marines for many generations to come” as well as hopefully boosting the local economy through increased footfall.
The museum will create a sense of place where members of the Royal Marines family can connect with their history and each other.
“We know that heritage can play a huge role in bringing people together and creating a sense of pride in people’s hometowns and cities, and in turn boosting the local tourist economy,” he added.
After the lengthy hiatus, General Gwyn Jenkins, Commandant General Royal Marines, is delighted the Corps’ history will be back in the limelight.
“The ethos of the Royal Marines – so important to the morale and fighting spirit of the Corps – is built on the challenges, the achievements and the legacy of our forebears,” he said.
“Today’s Royal Marine is the embodiment of the ‘Commando Spirit’ - the courage, determination, unselfishness, and cheerfulness in adversity - all learnt from their predecessors and the museum is a vital part of that inheritance.
“The museum will create a sense of place where members of the Royal Marines family can connect with their history and each other.”
With the cash injection from the National Lottery, the National Museum now has raised £6m for the new complex, so still needs to raise another £3.5m.
“This project will bring a set of incredible new visitor experiences to the dockyard, enhancing our offer and encouraging visitors to return time and time again,” said Matthew Sheldon, the National Museum of the Royal Navy’s Chief Executive Officer.
“Core to this is the opportunity to explore the Royal Marines experience. This story is central to that of the Royal Navy and therefore to the purpose of the Museum and we want to use the latest interpretative and digital techniques to really bring the endeavour, courage, and conflict inherent in that service experience to life.”