The Archaeology Discover Centre (formerly Sunken Secrets and the Underwater Archaeology Centre) was a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

located in Fort Victoria on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The museum was run by archaeologists based on the Isle of Wight. It was housed in five of the fort's former

casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which artillery, guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to Ancient history, antiquity, th ...

s. Since it was opened in 1990 the museum was used to display exhibits recovered from several local

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

s and the submerged landscapes of the

Solent The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and Great Britain. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit which projects into the Solent narrows the sea crossing between Hurst Castle and Colwell Bay to ...

. These include the wrecks of HMS ''Pomone'', HMS ''Invincible'', the Yarmouth Roads Wreck and

Bouldnor Cliff Bouldnor Cliff is a submerged prehistoric settlement site in the Solent. The site dates from the Mesolithic era and is in approximately of water just offshore of the village of Bouldnor Bouldnor is a hamlet near Yarmouth on the west co ...

. The museum also houses an exhibition about the history of Fort Victoria itself.

History

After the wreck of HMS ''Pomone'' was discovered at

The Needles The Needles is a row of three stacks of chalk that rise about out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight in the English Channel, United Kingdom, close to Alum Bay and Scratchell's Bay, and part of Totland, the westernmo ...

in 1969, the

Isle of Wight Council The Isle of Wight Council is a unitary authority covering the Isle of Wight, an island in the south of England. It is currently made up of 39 seats. Since the 2021 election, there has been an 'Alliance' coalition administration of Independents, ...

funded a team to research and excavate the site.Medland, p. 52 In 1984 another wreck was discovered immediately offshore of

Yarmouth Yarmouth may refer to: Places Canada *Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia **Yarmouth, Nova Scotia **Municipality of the District of Yarmouth **Yarmouth (provincial electoral district) **Yarmouth (electoral district) * Yarmouth Township, Ontario *New ...

and work began excavating that site as well. In 1990 the Isle of Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology was founded and began operating a museum at Fort Victoria called the Maritime Heritage Exhibition. Several finds from the excavations were displayed in the museum, whilst others went to the

Royal Naval Museum The National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth, formerly known as the Royal Naval Museum, is a museum of the history of the Royal Navy located in the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard section of HMNB Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. The ...

in Portsmouth and

Bembridge Maritime Museum Bembridge is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish located on the easternmost point of the Isle of Wight. It had a population of 3,848 according to the 2001 census of the United Kingdom, leading to the implausible claim by som ...

. In 1991 the Trust expanded into the

Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology The Maritime Archaeology Trust (formerly the Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology) is a charitable trust that researches and excavates maritime archaeology and heritage in Great Britain. Historically, their core activities were f ...

, a charity which went on to investigate more maritime archaeology in the local area and discovered the site of

in 1999. The Trust refurbished the museum which was re-opened in 2006 as the Underwater Archaeology Centre. In 2013 it was renamed Sunken Secrets. In 2017 the ownership of the centre passed into local hands.

Exhibits

Shipwrecks: The shipwrecks exhibition explores why there are so many wrecks in the Solent area, why wrecks are seen as acting as time capsules of the past, and displays finds from Trust excavations.Burdett & Insole, p 113 It includes the stories of HMS ''Pomone'', HMS ''Invincible'', the Yarmouth Roads Wreck (believed to be the Spanish Galleon ''Santa Lucia''), and other wrecks at the Needles and

Alum Bay Alum Bay is a bay near the westernmost point of the Isle of Wight, England, within close sight of the Needles rock formation. Of geological interest and a tourist attraction, the bay is noted for its multi-coloured sand cliffs. The waters and adj ...

. Submerged landscapes: The submerged landscapes exhibits explain the history of the Solent as a dry river valley before rising sea levels flooded it and created the

strait A strait is an oceanic landform connecting two seas or two other large areas of water. The surface water generally flows at the same elevation on both sides and through the strait in either direction. Most commonly, it is a narrow ocean channe ...

that exists today. It focuses on the Trust's excavations at Bouldnor Cliff and includes artefacts recovered from the sea bed.

Closure

The Sunken Secrets/Archaeology Discovery Centre exhibition closed permanently in 2019, Artefacts on display have been relocated to the Maritime trusts Shipwrecks exhibition at Arreton barns on the Isle of Wight. The Building that housed the exhibition at Fort Victoria has been converted into a combination of Gift Shops and Exhibition Space.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links