Engineering:Royal Engineers Museum

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Short description: Military Museum in Gillingham, Kent
The Royal Engineers Museum
The Royal Engineers Museum
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Established1987
LocationGillingham, Kent
Coordinates [ ⚑ ] : 51°23′32″N 0°32′18″E / 51.3921°N 0.5383°E / 51.3921; 0.5383
TypeMilitary Museum
FounderGeneral Sir Charles William Pasley
CEORebecca Nash
ArchitectMajor E.C.S. Moore
OwnerThe Institution of Royal Engineers (InstRE)
Websitewww.re-museum.co.uk

The Royal Engineers Museum is a military engineering museum and library in Gillingham, Kent. It tells the story of the Corps of Royal Engineers and British military engineering in general.

History

Centurion AVRE (Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers)

The museum is housed in the former Ravelin Building at Brompton Barracks, Chatham. This site has been central to the Corps’ history since 1812 when Colonel Pasley’s School of Military Engineering was established at Chatham.[1][2] The Corps’ Library followed in 1813 (still extant), and the Ravelin Building itself was erected in 1905 as an electrical engineers’ training school.[3] It was designed by Captain (later Major) E.C.S. Moore, RE,[4] and opened in 1905 at a construction cost of £40,000.[5] In 1987 the Ravelin was converted into the Corps’ museum;[6] Queen Elizabeth II formally opened the Royal Engineers Museum in May 1987.[7][8]

Collections

The museum and library hold over 500,000 objects relating to the history of the Corps of Royal Engineers and the development of military engineering. It also has a collection of paintings and a large collection of medals including 25 Victoria Crosses.[9] Other items include a German V-2 rocket used during the Second World War,[10] the map used by the Duke of Wellington during the Battle of Waterloo,[11] a finial from the Mahdi's tomb,[12] weapons used by Lieutenant John Chard during the Anglo-Zulu War, a collection of bridge-laying tanks, a Brennan torpedo and a Harrier jump jet.[13]

This exhibits can be grouped as follows:

  • Engineering equipment and vehicles: artillery, bridging gear (Bailey bridges,[14] pontoons, assault boats), armoured engineering vehicles, railway[15] and water transport models. Many full‐size vehicles and prototypes are on display indoors and outdoors.[16]
  • Weapons and explosives: bombs, mines, torpedoes, demolition charges and flamethrowers.[17]
  • Communications and surveying: telegraph and radio sets, semaphore signalling gear, surveying instruments and historical maps.[18]
  • Photography and aerial: early aerial cameras and photographs (the Royal Engineers were pioneers of military ballooning)[19]
  • Bridging models (Bridge Study Centre): hundreds of scale models illustrating bridge designs from the 19th century onward, plus drawing sets and treatises.[20]
  • Fine art and photography: period paintings and drawings of engineering projects, plus extensive photography albums documenting Royal Engineers units and works.[21]
  • Medals and awards: one of the largest public collections of medals in the UK.[22]

See also

  • Waterbeach Military Heritage Museum
  • Royal Engineers
  • Chatham Dockyard
  • Imperial War Museum
  • Museum of Army Flying
  • List of museums in Kent
  • Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
  • Sapper

References

  1. ↑ Lundeberg, Philip K.. "Samuel Colt's Submarine Battery: The Secret and the Enigma". https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/2428/SSHT-0029_Lo_res.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y. "Major Pasley was supported by the Duke of Wellington in his advocacy of more thoroughly professional training of British military engineers and in 1812 was appointed Director of the Royal Engineer's Institution for Field Instruction at Chatham" 
  2. ↑ "Brompton: Brief History". 29 November 2014. http://www.bromptonhistory.org.uk/history#:~:text=It%20was%20against%20this%20backdrop%20that%20the%20School%20of%20Military%20Engineering%20arrived%20in%201812,%20as%20Chatham%20Lines%20were%20expanded%20and%20altered%20for%20the%20last%20time.. 
  3. ↑ "Royal Engineers Museum". 30 April 2025. https://www.keymilitary.com/article/royal-engineers-museum#:~:text=The%20impressive%20Ravelin%20Building%20was%20built%20in%201905%20and%20originally%20served%20as%20the%20Electrical%20Engineering%20School%20for%20the%20Corps,. 
  4. ↑ Historic England. "Royal Engineers Museum, Brompton Barracks (1259646)". National Heritage List for England. https://HistoricEngland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1259646. 
  5. ↑ "Brompton Barracks". 29 November 2014. http://www.bromptonhistory.org.uk/buildings/archive/brompton-barracks#:~:text=The%20Ravelin%20building,%20another%20key%20building%20in%20the%20Barracks%20was%20opened%20in%201905.%20It%20was%20designed%20by%20Captain%20ECS%20Moore%20RE%20and%20was%20used%20as%20the%20electrical%20school,%20it%20was%20built%20at%20a%20cost%20of%20%C2%A340,000.%20Today,%20the%20Raveling%20building%20is%20home%20to%20the%20Royal%20Engineers%20Museum,%20Library%20&%20Archive.. 
  6. ↑ "Engineers excellence". 29 April 2025. https://www.keymilitary.com/article/engineers-excellence#:~:text=it%20was%20converted%20for%20its%20current%20use%20in%201987. 
  7. ↑ Salter, P.J. (1 February 2017). "Roll out the Red Carpet". The Clock Tower. p. 31. https://foma-lsc.org/Downloads/Issue%2045.pdf. "In 1987 she opened the Royal Engineers Museum that had recently been transferred from Brompton Barracks to the Ravelin Building in King Arthur Road, Gillingham" 
  8. ↑ "Regiment welcomes return of Her Majesty" (in en). 2007-10-21. https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/regiment-welcomes-return-of-her--a32902/#:~:text=Her%20Majesty%20arrived%20shortly%20before,Chief. 
  9. ↑ "Royal Engineers Museum". Victoria Cross. http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/ccroyeng.htm. Retrieved 7 June 2018. 
  10. ↑ "Royal Engineers Museum begins restoration of German V-2 Rocket missile for display". Culture 24. 13 July 2012. http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/military-history/world-war-two/art392359. Retrieved 7 June 2018. 
  11. ↑ "The Original Map of the 1815 Battle of Waterloo". https://www.artratio.co.uk/waterloo-map-1815. 
  12. ↑ Nicoll, Fergus. "Material related to the Mahdīa". p. 13. http://www.sssuk.org/drupalSite/sites/default/files/mahdia_materials.pdf. 
  13. ↑ "Royal Engineers Museum". Kent Attractions. https://kentattractions.co.uk/attractions/royal-engineers-museum/. Retrieved 7 June 2018. 
  14. ↑ "Royal Engineers Museum - 100 Objects That Made Kent". 2025-04-29. https://100objectskent.co.uk/museum/royal-engineers-museum/#:~:text=Bailey%20Bridge. 
  15. ↑ "Medway Model Show - Royal Engineers Museum". 2025-04-29. https://www.re-museum.co.uk/events/medway-model-show/#:~:text=trains. 
  16. ↑ "Build, Demolish, Defuse - Royal Engineers Museum". 2025-04-29. https://www.re-museum.co.uk/events/bdd24/#:~:text=-Get%20up%20close%20to%20our%20prototype%20Shielder%20armoured%20mine%20laying%20vehicle%20and%20a%20Westland%20Scout%20helicopter,. 
  17. ↑ "Royal Engineers Museum Visitor Map (March 2018)". https://www.re-museum.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Royal-Engineers-Museum-Map_Mar18_WEB.pdf. 
  18. ↑ "BBC - A History of the World - Object : Duke of Wellington's map of Waterloo". 2025-04-29. https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/kLNKc5emQRiCvYm1tvu56A. 
  19. ↑ "Early military ballooning". 2025-04-29. https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/online-exhibitions/rfc_centenary/british-military-aviation-1862-1912/early-military-ballooning/. 
  20. ↑ Sturgess, Trevor. "Trust wins award for promoting civil engineering in schools". Kent Online. https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/rochester-bridge-trust-wins-award-1781/. 
  21. ↑ "Collections" (in en-GB). https://www.re-museum.co.uk/collections/. 
  22. ↑ "Royal Engineers Museum Victoria Cross Collection". 2025-04-29. https://www.victoriacross.org.uk/ccroyeng.htm. 



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