Things to do in Portsmouth: Roofless Royal Garrison Church in Southsea reopens with following extensive refurbishment

The restoration project at the 800-year-old Royal Garrison Church saw the installation of a new glass screen partition in the roofless church which will ‘dramatically improve’ the visitor experience according to English Heritage.

The charity, who are responsible for the Southsea landmark, welcomed guests into the church free of charge from Saturday, April 1.

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Samantha Stones, English Heritage’s senior properties curator (south), said: ‘Replacing the screen has been a huge technical engineering effort. We needed something that was robust enough in the exposed environment, but also had minimal impact on the medieval masonry. We’re so excited to unveil our new design, which has dramatically improved the visitor experience and allows us to better tell the stories behind this exceptional building.’

The Royal Garrison Church has seen many repairs during its life, notably since it was hit by bombs in 1942 which destroyed the central part of the church.

This section - the nave - has been separated from the intact ‘chancel’ area surrounding the church’s altar since the 1960s by a brick wall which has now been replaced by the screen.

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Also unveiled today were the results of extensive repairs to the church’s interior including restored pews, decorative organ pipes and fresh paintwork. In it’s rich history, the church has a 13th century hospital, a Tudor armoury, and the site of a royal wedding between Charles II and Catherine of Braganza in 1662.

Click here for more information about opening times.