In December 2025, our Youth Associates and Young Producers met up at the Mary Rose Museum to chat with one another and hear from the Mary Rose engagement and learning team about the work the museum does to connect others with its history and collection.
The Mary Rose was Henry VIII’s favourite ship, and is home to the largest collection of Tudor objects in the world!
We started off the tour looking at the Cowdray engraving (above), which is a copy of a contemporary painting commissioned between 1545-1548, which shows the Battle of the Solent and where the Mary Rose sank.
It is remarkable because it also shows detailed aspects of everyday Tudor life and clothing across all social classes. Examples of this include people having a picnic or cooking their meal, men doffing their caps to each other and there is even a couple embracing!
From there, we explored the rest of the museum, with Catherine highlighting her favourite objects within the collection.
Later on, we had an informal Q and A with Catherine and Lucy, who are in the Learning and Engagement team at Mary Rose, to hear about their journeys into heritage and what they do now at the museum.
We heard about the outreach work they do in the local community (including visiting care homes), as well as how school visits are run and designed.
Learning about Patch the dog!
We were able to have a sneak peek in the archival area of the museum – these are pieces that are not being displayed as part of the main collection, but may get rotated in at a future date.
“A very unique and surreal experience!”
“Having a guided tour by an industry professional was invaluable, as although the museum was fascinating alone, it was wonderful to see the enthusiasm and genuine love that the people working at the Mary Rose museum have for history”.
“I really enjoyed touring the museum with a new group of people and being able to meet other young adults working/studying in heritage!”.