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A Ship to the Middle Ages

Collection: Newport Medieval Ship

Conservation plays a large part in the preservation and investigation of our past. This exhibit highlights this wonderfully with videos and images of, not only the excavation but also the large conservation effort that went into the Newport Medieval Ship Project, the biggest ship discovered in the UK.
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A short movie covering various aspects of the medieval ship project, including discovery, cleaning, recording, modelling and conservation. © Newport Museums and Heritage Service.
Black and white photograph of the ship, during the excavation process. © Newport Museums and Heritage Service.
Photograph depicting the side of the ship. © Newport Museums and Heritage Service.
Digital photograph of human remains found during the ship’s excavation. © Newport Museums and Heritage Service.
Digital photograph of the excavation. Archaeologists are extracting one of the hull timbers. © Newport Museums and Heritage Service.
Digital photograph of the excavated ship. © Newport Museums and Heritage Service.

The Newport Medieval Ship is one of the most important and largest ships to be excavated and recovered in Britain. The ship, built some time after 1449 was constructed from Spanish wood, and sank in Newport in 1468. This collection records the data from the investigations that took place between 2004 and 2013, before of the vessel was disassembled and removed from the area. All the timber and the artefacts found in the excavation were cleaned, recorded and analysed. Different methods of analysis were used, including digital software that produced 3D models of each piece of timber.

The Newport Medieval Ship collection contains over 12,500 files, including timber record sheets, hull schematics, specialist reports, artefact catalogues, 3D timber drawings, site photogrammetry, site drawings, digital solid models of each structural timber, excavation, timber and artefact photographs, and a project database.

Having visited the site when the Newport Ship was discovered it is fascinating to see the outcome of many years of painstaking conservation and research. As Newport is a little off the beaten track this archive provides a useful resource for any 'virtual' visitors hoping to get to grips with the discoveries. The 3D models and photogrammetry would be useful for those wanting to 'build' their own Newport Ship, while the photographs, drawings, databases and spreadsheets provide insight into the excavation and its outcomes. Ray Moore, ADS Digital Archivist.