The Box: Figureheads (updated 17/01/26)

 This is an ongoing display

In the double height section of the modern extension at The Box, above the Cafe, there hangs a remarkable display of fourteen figureheads.  These Victorian works or art are on loan from the National Museum of the Royal Navy.  They have been painstakingly restored and during this, the decision was made to restore them to colourful perfection.

You can observe them from the ground looking up in the cafe, from a slightly higher level in an area adjacent to the shop where you can get up close and personal to Royal William known as King Billy.  My favourite though is the view from the Active Archives mezzanine which takes you alongside the very largest of the figureheads.

They have been cleverly hung in a sort of V shape, with a gap at the bottom.  The smallest are hung near the base of the V with the largest at the top of the two arms.  This means you can get a really good look at each figurehead from somewhere in the museum.

The figureheads are themselves stunning and varied.  They will be something I look at every single visit.

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I returned to the Box on another visit and spent more time reading about the figureheads.  There are two very good touchscreens which allow you to access material on each figurehead.  This includes things like the ship that they were originally on, what that ship did and what happened to them afterwards.  Some of the ships must have been huge.  One figurehead weight over 2 tonnes.

Some of the figureheads were very rotten and required extensive work to restore.  In order to preserve them, some had been encased in resin or fibreglass but this had the effect of trapping moisture in.  Some of the figureheads were pretty just mush inside.  The resin however did retain detail to inform the restoration process.  One had around 40 layers of paint.  At some points the figureheads would have been in full colour, at others they would have been painted white.  The decision was made to restore them to full monochromatic glory.

Behind one side of the figureheads is a wall of shops badges.  As figureheads became too expensive to maintain and create, they were largely replaced by the badges.  These are unique identifying logos.  The touch screen allow you to look at close ups of all the different badges with an index of the ship names.  It is interesting to browse the variety of images and they reference so many different things from mythology, to concepts or plants.

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