Royal Marines Museum 'set to relocate with £14m grant'

The new Centre for Discovery will bring together more than two million artefacts

Two military museums could be brought together after winning initial approval for a lottery grant of almost £14m.

The Royal Marines Museum in Eastney will relocate to a boathouse next to The National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.

A new Centre for Discovery will also feature more than two million artefacts, currently housed elsewhere.

Prof Dominic Tweddle, director general of NMRN, said it would "deepen and enrich" the visitor experience.

He said collections currently "dispersed and at risk across the country" in 30 separate locations, many in storage, would go on show.

The National Museum of the Royal Navy is based at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

Collections currently dispersed across the country will go on show

Sir Peter Luff, chairman of the Heritage Lottery Fund, said: "We loved the National Museum of the Royal Navy's plans to tell the very human story of the Royal Navy.

"The Centre for Discovery will provide a new, spacious venue to relate this narrative while the relocation of the Royal Marines Museum will give it a more prominent home and increased visitor numbers.

"Having already invested £55m in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, we are confident this latest award of National Lottery money will enable the dockyard to build on its reputation as one of the South East's most popular heritage destinations."

The Royal Marines Museum will move into the Grade II-listed Victorian Boathouse 6.

It is also receiving £2m from money raised from fines after the Libor banking scandal, with a further £2.5m coming from fundraising.

The new museum is due to open in 2019.