'London: Cromwell's 'Mary Rose': talk by Steve Ellis & Mark Beattie-Edwards

03-02-21 - 03-02-21,
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM

Admission: ££5 Adults, £4 Students/Friends of the Museum

Location: Via Zoom

Our final winter lecture comes from a remarkable piece of underwater archaeology. In this talk, Steve and Mark will present the amazing wreck of the London, built for Cromwell, but which unexpectedly blew up in the Thames Estuary in 1665.

Protected in 2010 by Historic England the site is on the Heritage At Risk Register, due to the constant erosion that is taking place on the site as it lies so close to the commercial shipping channel. Although two small scale excavations have taken place, the only work to save material from destruction currently being undertaken is by a small dedicated team of volunteer divers from the London Shipwreck Trust.

Steve will talk about his archaeological journey and his experience of diving on this fascinating and “slightly scary” shipwreck in the Thames and the gorgeous objects that have been saved so far, while Mark will talk about plans for the future to create a facility to house and display the site for the public.

Find out more about the campaign to Save The London here: https://www.nauticalarchaeologysociety.org/Appeal/save-the-london

Mark Beattie-Edwards is the Chief Executive Officer of the Nautical Archaeology Society; Steve Ellis is from the London Shipwreck Trust. Together they are leading the project to rescue this remarkable time-capsule.

The profits from this evening's talk will be divided between the Museum and the London Shipwreck Trust.

This is part of a four part lecture series on the Civil War period. Discounted combined tickets for all four talks can be purchased at: the Cromwell Lecture Series (click on this title for the link).

The other talks are by Paul Lay on Cromwell and the Western Design, Andrea Zuvich on Sex & Sexuality in Stuart Britain, and Miranda Malins on Imagining the Cromwells.

PLEASE NOTE: This talk will be held online via Zoom. Joining details will be sent out the week before the talk.

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