It’s a week to go until we unveil our latest exhibition at No.1 Smithery. The team have been busy behind the scenes,  putting everything into place for the new exhibition –Michael Foreman, Painting with Rainbows – originated by Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books’. So what is this exhibition all about? Michael Foreman is one of Britain’s best-known and internationally acclaimed creators of books for children. A multi award winning author, he has been ...

A treasure house of maritime treats, No.1 Smithery is a joint project between the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, Royal Museums Greenwich and Imperial War Museums that encourages visitors to unearth incredible stories through objects, paintings and play. No.1 Smithery is also home to National Museums: Collection and Research, a state-of-the-art, environmentally controlled storage space for over 3,000 models and artefacts. At the heart of No.1 Smithery is The Courtyard, a large open space that a ...

We hope you’re enjoying the Christmas break albeit a little different to what we all expected at the beginning of this year. To celebrate the festive season we thought we would bring you the 12 days of Christmas but with a dockyard twist. Enjoy following along on our social media channels each day and discovering something new about our historic site … On the 1st day of Christmas my true love gave to me…  … a Partridge in a mulberry tree In Commissioners Garden, youR ...

A model fit for a King On display in No. 1 Smithery is an incredible scale model showing the Dockyard as it was in 1774. The model was commissioned by John Montagu who became the First Lord of the Admiralty in 1771. One of his priorities was to get King George II more interested in the Royal Navy. He commissioned models including this one of Chatham, to be made for the exclusive use of the king and his eldest son. It is of the highest quality and attention to detail, a model truly fit for a Kin ...

Can you believe we are in the last week of February already?!  Time is flying by and our calendar of events are growing by the week! We thought it would be a nice re-cap of what to expect here at the Dockyard this year… Have your diaries at the ready… Doc.Yard Secret Lab – until 1st May (weekends and school holidays only) Young scientists experience a 45-minute hands-on, electrifying visit to the eccentric Doc. Yard’s Secret Lab in the company of equally eccentric assistant Bunsen. Th ...

At the age of 22 Grace Darling became a national heroine because of her brave actions one stormy night in September 1838. Grace was one of nine children born to the keeper of the Longstone Lighthouse (located on the Farne Islands off the Northumberland Coast). By 1838 all of Grace’s brothers and sisters had left the lighthouse to marry or work on the mainland. As the youngest daughter, the expectation would have been that Grace would stay at home and look after her parents as they got older. I ...

This month we take time to celebrate just some of the many women who launched warships from Chatham Dockyard. Read our snapshot of the family ties, imposing memorabilia and stories of community celebration from an era when ships set sail from Medway. A naval tradition dating back thousands of years, ceremonial ship launching was a public celebration and an honour for those who are asked to perform it, especially as the process usually included a religious blessing. While ship launching represent ...

A new exhibition that has kept sight impaired, blind, deaf or hard of hearing artists connected through the pandemic. Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, in partnership with the Mess Room, Kent Association for the Blind, Peer Arts and Deaf Peer Arts, are pleased to announce the opening new, temporary exhibition at The Historic Dockyard Chatham. Hidden Heroines: by the Mess Room and Friends, is an exhibition of artworks by local people who are sight impaired, blind, deaf or hard of hearing in respon ...

Barry Fentiman Hall – curator, The Empty Chair Poetry Trail Everybody knows who Charles Dickens is. Yes is. He may have died 151 years ago but very few years pass without another dramatic re-interpretation of one of his stories. Great Expectations, the one where Magwitch looms from the Medway mud to accost a young Pip Pirrip, has seen at least 18 versions appear on the screen to date. There was a Bollywood movie called Fitoor based on it in 2016. So yes, everybody knows who Dickens is. But who ...

Take a look behind the scenes at the work that goes into preparing a Second World War Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) uniform to go on display in our temporary exhibition, Hidden Heroines: the untold stories of the women of the Dockyard. A lot of work goes into creating exhibitions. From finding the stories that need to be told, to selecting objects and artefacts which help bring those stories to life. Writing the exhibition text, designing the gallery space, preparing the objects for d ...

Amaze. Discover. Empower. “Hidden Heroines: the untold stories of the women of the Dockyard” is a new temporary exhibition set to open in No.1 Smithery this Spring. The exhibition explores the valuable roles women played throughout the Dockyard’s 400-year history, right up to present day. As we prepare to reopen The Historic Dockyard and unveil Hidden Heroines for the first time, we would like to take you behind the scenes for a small insight into what is involved in putting together a ne ...

An interactive art exhibition has been launched by Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, as part of its ongoing commitment to mental health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘Designed by: Dockyard’ is an online virtual gallery featuring a diverse collection of original pieces by The Historic Dockyard Chatham’s visitor experience team who were inspired to express their creativity during the national lockdowns. This week marks both World Art Day and Stress Awareness Month and the Trust ...

After 36 years’ service, Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust’s Director of Heritage, Visitor Experience and Learning, Richard Holdsworth MBE, will retire from his role this summer. Richard entered the Museum profession in 1978 with Merseyside County Museums (now National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside). From 1979-85 he was a Museum Officer at the Imperial War Museum, before joining Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust as its first Curator in 1985. In his current position as Director of Heritage, ...

In celebration of International Women’s Day 2021, Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust is pleased to reveal details about its upcoming exhibition, Hidden Heroines: the untold stories of the women of the Dockyard. Opening at The Historic Dockyard Chatham in spring 2021, Hidden Heroines will chart over 200 years of female workers at Chatham. Featuring stories of the first women of the Spinning Rooms and Sail and Colour Loft; tales of stowaways and women masquerading as men; and the extraordinary wom ...

Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust is pleased to announce the Garfield Weston Foundation Culture Fund has awarded the charity a grant of £177,500 to support the rebuilding of audiences following the COVID-19 pandemic. The crucial funding will be used to support the redevelopment of the popular Victorian Ropery gallery at The Historic Dockyard Chatham, telling the 400-year-old story of ropemaking at Chatham – a process that continues to this day. The project will see improved interpretation withi ...