Photo Gallery
Associated Web Link: www.explosion.org.uk
Transcript Of Narration
We now move across the harbour to Gosport where we will find the Explosion Museum which is the museum of naval firepower. The museum is created within a 18th Century building at the Royal Navy s former armaments depot within Priddy s Hard Gosport. The buildings that house the museum were originally used as powder magazines in 1777.
The Explosion museum traces the development of Naval armaments from gunpowder to modern times and the Exocet missile. The museum also looks at the historic aspects of the buildings the museum is contained within. One exhibition tells the story of how during World War II 2,500 women worked on the site.
In 1759 the Board of Ordnance purchased 40 acres of land from Jane Priddy and others to construct an earth rampart as part of the defences of Portsmouth Harbour. The board soon decided to relocate the gunpowder stores from Portsmouth to Priddy s Hard. This lead to the construction of a powder magazine together with an office, cooperage and adjoining camber basin. In 1777 the first barrels of powder were moved in from Portsmouth s Square Tower. The site was last used for significant naval activity during the Falklands Conflict in 1982 and was vacated in 1988. For more information about Explosion have a look at www.explosion.org.uk.
