About The Museum of the Royal Dockyard

Located in the Fitted Rigging House the 2,140 sq.m Museum of the Royal Dockyard is one of the largest single museum galleries in Kent.

It tells the fascinating history of Chatham's Royal Dockyard, from the Spanish Armada through to the Falklands Crisis and the dockyard's eventual closure.

Among the thousands of artefacts on display is the 1625 Chatham Chest, established by John Hawkins and Francis Drake to raise funds for seafarers injured fighting the Spanish Armada. An impressive collection of naval ordnance is featured, as is a spectacular model of HMS Victory, while the walls of the museum are covered with hundreds of ships badges and plaques originally made at Chatham for Royal Navy vessels.

The museum continues the history of the dockyard through to events within living memory including the Falklands Crisis and the emotive return of HMS Endurance from the South Atlantic.

Also featured is a disturbing secret map of the Medway Towns produced by Soviet Intelligence in the 1980s that shows key installations in the area including the dockyard. At the height of the Cold War these maps would have been used in preparation for attacks by Soviet Special Forces or even nuclear missiles.

It is not so long ago that the dockyard was by far the largest employer in Medway with thousands of workers skilled in dozens of trades. Many of the trades are featured in special displays within the museum. The final closure of the Dockyard in 1984 brought to an end over 400 years of naval history at Chatham and was a major blow to the local economy.

The Museum of The Royal Dockyard is a joint initiative between Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust and Chatham Dockyard Historical Society (CDHS), combining their two collections with many new exhibits on loan from other national museums.

Its creation was made possible by the generous support of Heritage Lottery Fund, Medway Council and the European Regional Development Fund.