Royal Marines Museum plan 'deserves' lottery funding to keep it in Portsmouth, says historian after second bid snub

Ann Coats, chairwoman of the Naval Dockyards Society, aired her frustrations after news broke of Portsmouth Historic Dockyard’s second failed bid for £3.9m on Thursday.

The attraction has bid for the cash twice in the past three years in an attempt to create a new site honouring the Royal Navy Commandos on its grounds.

Asked by The News why the effort had failed, the National Lottery Heritage Fund highlighted £55m of previous investment into the dockyard, and said it was unable to back all bids because of high levels of competition.

Ann, who is also a senior lecturer, said the lack of reasoning for the snub was ‘unhelpful’.

‘It is rather unfair that NHLF should emphasise that £55m had previously been invested into Portsmouth Historic Dockyard without specifying how funds have been allocated and over how many years,’ she told The News.

‘It’s as though the major heritage site in the south of England is being penalised for having too many historic buildings which need investment.’

Heritage lottery chiefs’ previous cash injections into the dockyard include £24m for the Mary Rose Museum between 2012 and 2016, more than £2.5m to preserve HMS Warrior in 2015, and almost £4m for shipwright projects at Boathouse 4.

Ann added: ‘As Portsmouth was one of the Royal Marines’ home bases, the others being Plymouth and Chatham, it seems illogical for the Royal Marines Museum to be moved to the north of England.

‘The Royal Marines guarded Portsmouth Dockyard during the Napoleonic Wars, carving their initials behind the Pay Office.

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‘In 1862 the Portsmouth HQ of the Royal Marine Infantry, which merged with the Royal Marines in the 1920s, became its museum in 1958.

‘Its former buildings and community history dominate Eastney and its operational history is part of Portsmouth Dockyard’s history.

‘The new museum deserves funding to maintain it in Portsmouth.’

The former Royal Marines Museum site, at the old Royal Marines barracks in Eastney, was closed in 2017 and has not yet been sold.