Historic Dockyard Chatham's free talks series 'In Conversation with...' are back for 2015!
The talks are free and take place in the Mess Deck Restaurant. Our talks are free to attend (you do not need a Dockyard admission ticket) but spaces are limited. Tickets must be booked in advance. Attendees should arrive 6.30 for 7.00pm start. The Mess Deck will be open for drinks and snacks prior to the talk.
Dates for 2025:
Thursday 12th June: Anthony Mould
Anthony Mould is a fine-art dealer and the founder of his eponymous gallery specialising in British art.
Anthony will be in conversation with Nick Ball, Collections, Galleries and Interpretation Manager, discussing the Trust’s recent acquisition of a ‘View of Chatham’ attributed to Ramsay Richard Reinagle. The painting shows the Dockyard looking north from Jackson’s Field across the river Medway in about 1800.
There will be a question and answer session following the conversation.
Thursday 3rd July: Fred Hocker
“In Life and Death: what the human remains from VASA reveal about the people of the 17th century”
Join Fred Hocker, Director of Research at VASA Museum, as we learn more about the Swedish warship which sank on its maiden voyage in our next instalment of our “In conversation with …” evening talks.
When the VASA sank in 1628, thirty people, including women and children, followed the ship to its grave. The remains of fifteen of them were found when the ship was raised in 1961. Over twenty years of research on the remains and the personal possessions associated with them have provided a very human picture of who these people where and what they were doing at the moment of catastrophe. From them we have learned about what people ate, how they dressed, where they were recruited, and the violent times in which they lived.
The evening will be compered by Nick Ball, Collections, Galleries and Interpretation at the Historic Dockyard, and there will be a question and answer session following the conversation.
Henry VIII’s MARY ROSE – Excavation to Exhibition
On a summer’s afternoon in July 1545, the MARY ROSE, one of the largest and heavily armed of Henry VIII’s great ships, heeled to starboard and sank. As the King watched from his encampment on Southsea Common, scarcely a mile distant, he could not have realised what an unparalleled insight into his life and times this catastrophe would ensure. MARY ROSE represents both a living community and a state-of-the-art fighting machine, fully manned and equipped for war. A 34-year old veteran, built in Portsmouth, she sank whilst engaging a French invasion fleet larger than the Spanish Armada 43 years later.
To date no marine archaeological excavation has attained the scale of the MARY ROSE project, nor captured the imagination of the public so completely. The conditions of her burial ensure that her historical treasures provide a unique and vivid impression of life at sea nearly half a millennium ago.
In the September instalment of our “In conversation with…” evening talks, Alexandra Hildred, maritime archaeologist and Head of Research for the Mary Rose Trust, will chart the journey of the ship from her sinking through her excavation, preservation and presentation to the public as the centrepiece of a purpose –built museum which wraps around the ship to protect her and her treasures for future generations.
The evening will be compered by Nick Ball, Collections, Galleries and Interpretation at the Historic Dockyard, and there will be a question and answer session following the conversation.
Thursday 4th June: Alexandra Hildred
Zone South East