Hull Maritime Museum officially reopens

“It has been worth the wait,” said Hull City Council’s leader Cllr Mike Ross as he spoke with just days to go before Hull Maritime Museum reopens. The museum has undergone a £20.4m refurbishment, backed by council funding and £7.7m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Hull Maritime Museum’s transformation is part of the wider Hull: Yorkshire’s Maritime City project that is restoring and elevating the focus on the city’s heritage. Cllr Ross (Liberal Democrat – Beverley and Newland Ward) said in a speech to media in the building’s Court Room, “We are proud to be unveiling a world class visitor experience that will inspire residents and visitors alike.”

He placed on record thanks to all involved. But he also thanked Hull residents and the public “who have waited patiently for the last six years whilst this has been going on. My message to you is that I promise you, it has been worth the wait.”

Why have the council and National Lottery Heritage Fund backed transforming the museum?

Asked why the council had invested much time and money into the Maritime Museum’s refurbishment, Cllr Ross said: “This is Hull’s history in this museum, it tells Hull’s past, it tells Hull’s heritage. It’s really important we’re able to do that in the best way possible.

He added the work done had helped “bring the museum into the 21st century but help tell the centuries of history of the city”. Helen Featherstone, the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s director England – North, said maritime was “so important to the history of Hull, it’s been the history and heritage here for over 800 years. At Heritage Fund, we really believe that connecting people to the past really informs the future and really creates a lot of community pride in their place.

“But also in this museum in particular, people can really see themselves in it and it tells that story of working class history.” In a speech to media, she said the museum’s refurbishment was “a flagship project” for the Heritage Fund in terms of the wider Hull: Yorkshire’s Maritime City programme.

The Heritage Fund has invested nearly £20m in the entire programme, which Ms Featherstone emphasised was only possible thanks to National Lottery players raising £30m a week for good causes. She said the maritime programme for Hull was “part of the legacy of City of Culture”, and praised the council as “an organisation who puts heritage regeneration front and centre”.

“That’s really important for boosting the economy, tourism and also local pride.”

Interactivity at its heart

On a wander around the museum, which now includes a second floor and dome-level view for the first time ever open to the public, two elements across the museum’s displays stood out. One was the level of thought given to the museum’s accessibility, whether with visual icon symbols on panels, or videos accompanied by British Sign Language (BSL).

The other striking element was the level and variety of interactivity the transformed Hull Maritime Museum offers. This ranges from what will undoubtedly become a kids’ favourite, the opportunity to crawl under and see from beneath the North Atlantic Right Whale skeleton, to touchscreen displays, a ship navigation simulator game, a touch and smell-focused sensory exhibit, to a rope weight pulley.

“That’s a direct response to consultation we did,” said Robin Diaper, the Hull Museums curator of maritime and social history, on why interactivity was a big feature of the transformed museum. “We consulted with thousands of people to start this museum,” he said, adding that families are a core audience for the museum and much feedback was for more hands-on aspects to the museum.

“Like everyone, we’re conscious of maintaining things and not just using IT for the sake of it, so we’ve got lots of physical, manual interactives as well that you won’t get at home, or on your phone, and then when we’ve needed to use technology, we have.”

On the ground floor, the museum’s theme is ‘Life at Sea’. The first floor progresses the focus onto ‘Life at Home’ and includes a display on Hull’s Headscarf Revolutionaries, who campaigned for improved health and safety in the fishing industry. The second floor has access to the dome view, temporary exhibition space, the museum’s scrimshaw display, and objects chosen by the public to feature.

“The Maritime Museum has been completely transformed,” said Gillian Osgerby, programme director for Hull Maritime. “The building itself has had an enormous amount of restoration work that’s happened. That then created a blank canvas to turn this into this fantastic museum space.”

Museum features and objects to look out for

With approximately 1,300 objects that will be on display and new features like the Planetarium, the LDRS asked individuals interviewed for one feature or object to highlight to future visitors. “One of the features that I really love is the access into the dome,” said Ms Osgerby.

“They have amazing views over the city centre,” she said, emphasising the dome and second floor have never before been open to the public during the museum’s existence. The museum’s collection of dockworkers’ tools was picked out twice, by Ms Featherstone and Mr Diaper.

“It’s a real window into sort of the past community and the past way of working, which I think is a really important story to tell,” said Mr Diaper, referencing the collection’s origins as amassed by a local barber named Walter Oglesby. “You can see the hand marks on them and the worn handles, which really connects people from the past to the current day,” said Ms Featherstone.

“I’m sure that the local people of Hull can point these out to their grandchildren and say, ‘these are the sorts of tools that were around and that really brings things into a reality rather than being in the abstract.”

Ralph Marks is one of the volunteers playing their part in Hull Maritime Museum’s return. He said he chose to volunteer when Hull was the UK City of Culture in 2017.

“Towards the end of volunteering, I came to the Maritime Museum and kept coming back, I’m afraid,” he joked. Ralph has an even longer association with the building, having worked as a craftsman apprentice when it was still the Dock Offices, and sung in the Court Room. On an object to highlight, he mentioned a map of Hull’s Hinterlands, helping showcase the level of maritime activity linked to the city.

Cllr Ross did not pick a single feature or object, stating: “That’s almost like asking someone to pick their favourite child, isn’t it?” But he did name-check “old favourites” like Erik the Polar Bear and the North Atlantic Right Whale being back, emphasising “but alongside exhibits that have been on show before, I think is fantastic”.

He also added his appreciation for the museum’s interactive elements and said: “I know that people are going to have a great time when they come back through those doors.” The museum reopens from Saturday, August 8, at 10am.

It will be entirely free, except for a small £2 charge to view the Planetarium and a charge for future behind the scenes tours. Online booking of a date and time to visit is recommended. Walk-ins without booking are still possible, but visitors without a booking may have to wait at peak times.