No. 1 Smithery at the Historic Dockyards, Chatham
No. 1 Smithery: National Treasures Inspiring Culture at the Historic Dockyards, Chatham. Visit the Maritime Treasures gallery, displaying maritime artefacts from National Museums or see P&O's ship models in the new environmentally controlled repository. Free tours of the store are available on the 10th and 11th September.
Last July Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust launched a brand new museum experience and all-round treasure house. This is a joint project between Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, the National Maritime Museum and the Imperial War Museum. It showcases unique and previously unseen maritime artefacts, national and international touring art, and inspiring education areas and interactive family learning.
National Museums: Maritime Treasures
This exhibition is one of the gems of the No. 1 Smithery. It is an excellent gallery displaying world-class maritime models and artefacts from the National Maritime Museum, Imperial War Museum and Chatham Historic Dockyard’s own collection.
National Museums: Collections and Research
The other exciting feature at the No. 1 Smithery is the National Museums: Collections & Research. This is a state of the art, environmentally controlled storage space for over 4000 models and artefacts, along with superb research areas. Although the repositories are not open to the public, having the pieces in situ means that they can be displayed in the galleries in rotation.
P&O Heritage has three of the many ship models in our collection featured in this storage space, MOOLTAN (1920) (now in the National Maritime Museum Collection) RAWALPINDI (1925) and UGANDA (1952). The models of MOOLTAN (1920) and RAWALPINDI (1925) are stunning examples of builders models at 1:48 scale.
Open Days
For study purposes there are private areas for researchers and members of the public to view specific items in these repositories, by appointment. However for a chance to take a peek inside these storage areas and see these and many other ship models and artefacts, you can visit the No. 1 Smithery on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th September when the facilities will be open to the public.
Please Note: The National Maritime Museum Ship Model Store tours are free but must be pre-booked by calling 01634 823815.
