St Barbe Museum & Art Gallery

Command of the Seas: The Navy and the New Forest against Napoleon

Starts: June 8 - 10:00am
Ends: September 1 - 5:00pm

Between 1793 and 1815, Britain was at war with revolutionary France. This exhibition will explore some of the key naval battles in the run up to the decisive victory at Trafalgar in 1805, as well as what life was like in the navy at the time. It will focus on the important contributions of three local admirals, Cornwallis, Peyton and Man, all of whom are buried at Milford churchyard. Featuring items relating to these admirals on loan from both national and private collections, the highlight of our show will be JMW Turner’s second sketch for the Battle of Trafalgar, on loan from the Tate.

Gallery 3 focusses on the New Forest itself, exploring how local timber from the forest was used to construct some of the warships that made up Nelson’s Navy.

There will be children’s activities throughout the exhibition and a weekend of events in Milford on 5-7 July to commemorate the bicentenary of the death of Admiral Cornwallis.

This exhibition has been created in partnership with the Milford-on-Sea Historical Record Society and the New Forest National Park Authority.

Image by JW Turner ‘The Battle of Trafalgar’ . Thanks to