Disclaimer: We received free entry to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and the new Dive The Mary Rose 4D experience in exchange for this review. Words and pictured are mine.
The last time I went to visit The Mary Rose was for the evening launch of the last interactive experience ‘1545, When Their World Ended‘. Before that, I’d not visited since I was around eight and on a school trip and it was in the days when they had to spray the ship constantly. Back then, it was pretty noisy, and smelled musty – like wood that was being sprayed constantly.
I was suitably impressed with how much it had changed and how interactive the museum now was, and couldn’t wait to take the kids to see it as they’re both at the age where they find history interesting and enjoy a decent museum – you can see some of the other highlights below.
The newest immersive experience to arrive at Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard is ‘Dive The Mary Rose 4D‘, and we were invited back to review it!
Dive The Mary Rose 4D Review
In ‘Dive The Mary Rose 4D’ ,’ you follow the history of the divers who helped recover the shipwreck from shortly after it sank, to the recovery in 1982.
The experience is included in the ticket price and is located upstairs just before the toilets. The shows happen every 15 minutes or so and there’s space for 40 visitors per show (with additional accessible spaces) so the wait time wasn’t very long even though we went in the middle of the Easter holidays.
Outside, there is a a short video giving a pre-amble and background to the salvage of the ship, after which you’re lead into a special cinema.
Here you’ll need to put on your special 3D glasses before settling down to enjoy the story of the 1982 successful excavation and raising of the Mary Rose which was televised around the world. As well as the impressive 3D film, you’ll experience vibrations, scents, loud noises, flashing lights and bubbles which really help to bring it to life!
All kids under 12 must be accompanied and it’s not recommended for children of four years old and under but fortunately it’s not scary at all. I once went to a 4D cinema experience with a then five year old and left feeling that she might need counselling in the future, but this was much less terrifying and more interesting. The kids really enjoyed the show. It is really interesting to see and hear from the people involved in the salvage of the ship – and it has a special cameo from then Prince, now King Charles who was particularly interested in the Mary Rose and even did a dive.
The rest of the Mary Rose Museum
The museum itself is really fascinating, both as an adult, and for kids. Long gone is the constant spraying (and the smell!) and the ship is now displayed in huge atrium-like area surrounded by the museum, completely accessible to view from different levels. On the top level you can look right down on the ship and moving images are projected onto it so you can imagine what it might have been like to live and work on the ship.
The Mary Rose sank almost 500 years ago, and many of the 19,000 artefacts that the divers managed to recover when they raised the ship in 1982 are also on display.
From the fireplace which the crew cooked their meals in, to the bones of the ship’s dog ‘Hatch’, there are several floors packed with wonderful displays and information which give you a real feel for Tudor life and what it must have been like aboard The Mary Rose (I’m thinking, not great fun).
There are lots of interactive elements which the kid loved – loads of buttons to press and games to play like shooting down enemy ships, and identifying artefacts and matching them with their uses, trying archery, etc. There are bits that you can touch, and slightly gorier exhibits like the surgeon’s equipment which will hold the interest of older children, and the almost complete skeleton and of a ship’s archer.
There were also people around the museum with tables full of interesting objects the kids could touch. They were happy to talk to us about weapons and diving, and my kids were really interested in this.
As an aside, the Mary Rose museum was the perfect place to be on a very wet Easter holiday day as the museum is all indoors and you can spend several hours there without having to go outside. Last year when I visited, it was ridiculously hot as it was the middle of a heatwave, but as it’s all air conditioned inside it’s a great place to visit whatever the weather.
Visiting The Mary Rose
Entry to The Mary Rose is included in the ticket price of entry to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard where you can also see HMS Warrior and Nelson’s HMS Victory (which we also visited and was really interesting), go on a harbour tour and visit several museums and exhibits.
Although you can get day tickets (priced £29 for an adult and £24 for a child) for less than double the price you can get an ‘Ultimate Explorer’ ticket which allows you to return as many times as you’d like over a year and visit all attractions in the Dockyard. A yearly ticket for a family of five is £120; if you’re local it’s a good idea as there is only so much time in the day and so much to see! Check out the ticket prices on the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard website.
It is worth noting that once a month, The Mary Rose run a ‘Relaxed Opening Morning’ where the lights are turned up, and sounds are turned down to make the museum more accessible to visually impaired or autistic visitors. You can find out more on their website.
Too far to travel? Check out our trip to Chatham Historic Dockyard.