Booking a Visit

a book

Booking a visit to the Royal Armouries at Fort Nelson couldn’t be simpler.
Contact our Bookings Officer to discuss your requirements:

Tel: 01329 848 507
Email: educate.nelson@armouries.org.uk

When booking please have the following information available:

We will send you:

Useful Information for Your Visit

Lunch

The Powderkeg Cafe provides a range of food and drinks at reasonable prices. Packed lunches can be eaten within rooms allocated within the Fort buildings but in the summer months many wish to sit outside on the ramparts.

Parking

Free Parking is available at Fort Nelson.

To ensure the safety of your pupils, they should only enter the coach park under adult supervision.

Gun Firings

A lunchtime firing of one of our many “big guns” happens daily during the winter and twice daily during the summer. This is always a part of the timetable for a visiting group and will usually occur at the beginning or end of the lunch period.

If it is scheduled at the end of the lunchtime period please make sure your group have finished their lunch and left the area clean and free from debris 5 minutes before firing time. This allows adequate time to muster on the Parade ground.

Children of a sensitive nature may need prior warning, as the guns are very loud.


  • Education Booking Terms and Conditions.

  • Fort Nelson sits atop Portsdown Hill, with amazing views of the Solent and the Meon Valley. Today it stands as a monument to the skills and ingenuity of Victorian engineering and architecture and home to the Royal Armouries.

  • The Royal Armouries welcomes visitors to the collection and its museums. To ensure that all visitors enjoy their day, we request that the following regulations be adhered to. Any person who fails to comply with these regulations may be asked to leave.

Scary Horned Helmet

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Did you know?

Biggest bore in the world!

The largest bore gun ever built, fired a 3 feet diameter cast iron ball weighing around 1 tonne, containing 215kg (400lbs) of gunpowder to a range of 2.4 kilometres (1.5 miles). It was designed by Robert Mallett and is on display at Fort Nelson.

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