Cutty Sark and The Painted Hall

We visited the Cutty Sark today with my Dad and Joan. It was interesting to see the changes since the last time we visited, before the renovations after the fire. It is much more of a museum now than it used to be, but done in a tasteful and sympathetic way. The floor of the bottom deck is made up of tea chests, and they-or at least mock ups of them have been cleverly used as display areas for art, photography, and information relating to the ship and the tea trade.

 The upper deck is much the same. I love the sturdy wooden pulleys. This deck was in Chatham being renovated at the time of the fire, and so escaped damage.

 The Tween deck had a lot of interesting information on the wool trade with Australia, such as the fact that a Merino sheep apparently produces enough wool in a year to make 5,000 miles of yarn. That does not sound possible to me! Why is it so expensive then? is what springs to mind!

 The new feature is the access to the bottom of the boat. It is quite beautiful. Brass is the metal cladding the sides-apparently more resistant to barnacles than copper.

 I was so pleased to see that the collection of figureheads is still there. That was my favourite thing when I visited in the past. It seems such a whimsical thing compared to the totally practical nature of life on board a ship. On Viking ships they were there to ward off evil spirits. On these later ships, starting from the 16th Century, they were there to demonstrate wealth and power, and also to illustrate the name of the ship to a non-literate society. (Info. from Wikipedia here) I suppose these must have been elsewhere at the time of the fire too. Phew!

 After lunch we visited The Painted Hall. I have not been in here for years and had forgotten just how amazing it is. It is part of the Royal Naval College, designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and Sir Christopher Wren. It was painted by James Thornhill. It took him nineteen years! He was paid £3 per square yard for the ceiling and £1 per square yard for the walls. Doesn't sound like much does it?

 This is a miniature room in a glass case downstairs. I didn't read about it so can't say more. It looks real sized in this photo I think.

 We walked along this underground passage, following a sign for the chapel. We were also following a tour group, and when they turned a corner, so did we, thinking that was the way to the chapel.

It was not. Instead, we found ourselves in this skittle alley. This was my highlight, as it was only lucky chance that we tagged along behind the group, and it was only lucky chance that they were allowed in by an employee who was collecting piles of chairs stored here for a wedding later on.
The alley is from around 1860. The bowling balls are practice canon balls made from lignum vitae. I have a lignum vitae bead,about the size of an egg, that is for a plumb line. I was excited when I tested it and found it really does sink in water.
I was just looking for information on this place, and found it was used as a morgue. Nelson was laid there before his funeral. A strange mixture of uses for a room. Read about an evening in a haunted morgue here!