Eleanor Schofield

Dr Eleanor Schofield is Director of Collections at the Mary Rose Trust, where she leads on all aspects to do with caring for, understanding, displaying, and interpreting the collection. She has led the conservation effort at the Mary Rose since 2012, including implementing all the monitoring techniques and associated research projects. She is a Chartered Engineer and Scientist, Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Image: credit Mary Rose Trust

Henry VIII’s ship, the Mary Rose, sailed for over 34 years before tragically sinking during the Battle of the Solent in 1545. Despite various salvage attempts, it was not until 1982 that the hull broke the surface of the water and was brought back home to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Alongside the wooden hull, over 19,000 objects were recovered, and these are now displayed in context around the hull in a purpose-built museum, dedicated to the people who served on board. Critical to the survival of the collection, is understanding and stabilising the materials they comprise. This challenge is complicated by the age of the materials and the impact of residing for centuries in the marine environment. An additional challenge is needing to understand the materials with minimal intervention. During this talk, Dr Eleanor Schofield will discuss the various science and engineering techniques that have been employed to understand the materials. From synchrotron-based x-ray analysis of iron cannonballs to full laser scans of the Mary Rose hull, the journey of these objects, their current status and future obstacles that may need to be overcome will be discussed.