The Historic Dockyard

The Historic Dockyard

The Historic Dockyard
Chatham
Kent
ME4 4TE

Tel: 01634 823 800
Fax: 01634 823 801

Web: The Historic Dockyard

About The Historic Dockyard

The Historic Dockyard, Chatham is a stunning 80 acre site with historic buildings, museum galleries, historic warships and a vibrant programme of events and activities.

Follow the links on the map to discover all that there is to see and do at The Historic Dockyard Chatham...

Please note that tours of HM Submarine Ocelot and the Victorian Ropery are by timed ticket and galleries close from 45 minutes prior to closing time.

Historic warships

Three of the nation’s most powerful fighting ships are on display – HMS Cavalier, Britain’s last remaining WWII destroyer, the submarine HMS Ocelot and after restoration, the last Victorian sloop, HMS Gannet. Guided tours around the destroyer and through the submarine are included in the entrance price.

The award-winning Wooden Walls animatronic gallery allows visitors to walk through the Royal Dockyard of 1758 and discover how Britain’s wooden warships were built. Lifeboat!, the Royal National Lifeboat Institute National Exhibition, tells the story of one of Britain’s vital volunteer services with a display of 16 full-size lifeboats, film and artefacts.

The Ropery is a unique quarter-mile long building where craftsmen still use traditional techniques to make the quality rope that rigs the world’s grandest sailing ships.

Number 3 Slip - The Big Store

In this spectacular timber framed structure, built in 1838, visitors can see large military artefacts from The Historic Dockyard and Royal Engineers' Museum collections and take a lift or stairs to the magnificent mezzanine floor.

The Kent Police Museum, craft workshops, licensed restaurant and teashop are also on site.


Individual visitors to The Historic Dockyard Chatham can now benefit from the all year round ticket. Pay once and visit as many times as you like in 12 months. It's great value for money.

Museum of the Royal Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard Historical Society was founded in 1980 by a group of dockyard workers dedicated to perpetuating the history and work of Chatham Dockyard. By the time the dockyard closed in 1984, they had created a museum of dockyard and naval artefacts in the old Lead and Print Mill.

In the spring of 2001, the Society's historical collection was amalgamated with the Historic Dockyard Trust's own collection to form the new larger Museum of The Royal Dockyard in the Fitted Rigging House, on Anchor Wharf.