Buckler’s Hard
It’s a significant structure within the historic shipyard renowned for the building of 55 ships for the Royal Navy during the 18th and early 19th centuries including many famous 64 and 74 gun warships.
The project is being led by University of Southampton, Centre for Maritime Archaeology Department under Professor Jon Adams and Dr Rodrigo Ortiz-Vazquez, with supporting students and volunteers from the New Forest National Park Authority, Maritime Archaeology Trust and Bournemouth University and funded through the new Buckler’s Hard Shipyard Trust.
The survey will record the remains of the slipway structures using state of the art technology and produce georeferenced plans and digital models of the archaeological remains. They will update the work of the archaeological dig done in the 1990s which revealed the huge slipway timbers still under the mud and artefacts that were found were recorded, preserved and are on display in the Buckler’s Hard Maritime Museum.
Buckler’s Hard is open seven days a week and you can visit for free and watch the dig unfold. There will be a free daily briefing for visitors at 2pm. To learn more please enquire at the Maritime Museum open daily 10am – 5pm.
