THE MARY ROSE TRUST
Registered charity 277503 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register
To conserve the Mary Rose and her artefacts and display them to a wide audience.To maintain the archives and publish archaeological information and to promote and make accessible, research and knowledge relating to the Mary Rose.To provide world class expertise for maritime archaeology and the conservation of material recovered from underwater.To enable lifelong learning and outreach.
Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that the charity reported an operating deficit of £1,210,659 for the year ended 31 March 2025, driven by lower visitor income and significant cost pressures. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted reserves fell to £3,950,552, with free reserves covering only approximately six weeks of operating costs, well below the stated policy target of three months. The trustees acknowledge the charity is dependent on fundraising for survival and have initiated a strategic review and organisational restructure to address financial sustainability.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Reserves position: below the charity's own stated reserves policy (held: £382k; policy: three months of operating costs)
“The balance of funds currently covers approximately 6 weeks of operating costs.”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Joint Venture with NMRN Operations (PHD Operations Limited). The Trust contributes to the JV's deficit.
“The company contributes towards the deficit. During the year this totalled £82,155 (2024 £56,685) and is included within PHD Operations costs shown in note 9.” — page 40
“Includes logo & admin charges £7,200 (2024: £7,200) paid to the Trust, eliminated on consolidation” — page 31
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Trading subsidiary Mary Rose Trading Limited paid logo and admin charges to the Trust.
“The company contributes towards the deficit. During the year this totalled £82,155 (2024 £56,685) and is included within PHD Operations costs shown in note 9.” — page 40
“Includes logo & admin charges £7,200 (2024: £7,200) paid to the Trust, eliminated on consolidation” — page 31
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Trustees reimbursed for travel expenses.
“The company contributes towards the deficit. During the year this totalled £82,155 (2024 £56,685) and is included within PHD Operations costs shown in note 9.” — page 40
“Includes logo & admin charges £7,200 (2024: £7,200) paid to the Trust, eliminated on consolidation” — page 31
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Trading subsidiary: Mary Rose Trading Limited, Mary Rose Archaeological Services Limited
“The Trust has two wholly owned subsidiaries: Mary Rose Trading Limited (MRTL) and Mary Rose Archaeological Services Limited (MRAS).” — page 14
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by Compass Accountants Limited. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.
Corporate structure
MARY ROSE TRADING LIMITED — per its own Companies House accounts
- Profit before tax: £184k
- Donated/gift-aided to the charity: £184k
- },
“Gift aid due payable 183,766”
Leadership, per the charity’s website
- Dominic Jones — Chief Executive Officer (source)
Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.
Company officers (Companies House)
Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.
- MERRIMAN, Nicholas John, Dr — director, appointed 21/11/2025on trustee list
- MEHTA, Bobby Shailesh — director, appointed 21/11/2025on trustee list
- CRAIG, Flora Jane — director, appointed 21/11/2025on trustee list
- SUENSON-TAYLOR, Kirsten Victoria — director, appointed 16/11/2023on trustee list
- GREY, Rosemary Audrey Sinclair — director, appointed 16/11/2023on trustee list
- KEEBLE, Trevor William, Professor — director, appointed 16/11/2023on trustee list
- PAINTING, Andrew David, Dr — director, appointed 16/11/2023on trustee list
- PEIRCE, Aileen Marion — director, appointed 16/11/2023on trustee list
- STEVENS, Terence Richard, Professor — director, appointed 04/11/2022on trustee list
- LIPSCOMB, Suzannah Rebecca Gabriella, Professor — director, appointed 04/12/2020on trustee list
- PURSE, Nigel Keith — director, appointed 02/10/2020on trustee list
- RUSBY, Timothy Mark — director, appointed 05/10/2018on trustee list
- BRANDON, Christopher John — director, appointed 28/06/2013on trustee list
- HUMPHRYES, Adam Salusbury — director, appointed 28/06/2013on trustee list
- WRIGHT, Susan Alison — secretary, appointed 28/06/2013
Official officers record.
Property (HM Land Registry)
1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.
Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£401k
Reported reserves equal ~1.0 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (69% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.
Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 12.5% of total income — above the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).
- NIGEL KEITH PURSEchair · trustee of 2 other charities
- Adam Humphryes
- Aileen Marion Peirce
- Bobby Shailesh Mehta
- CHRISTOPHER JOHN BRANDON
- Dr Andrew David Painting
- Dr Nicholas John Merriman
- Flora Jane Craig
- Kirsten Victoria Suenson-Taylor
- Professor Terence Richard Stevens
- Rosemary Audrey Sinclair Grey
- Suzannah Rebecca Gabriella Lipscomb · trustee of 1 other charity
- Timothy Mark Rusby
- Trevor William Keeble
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Hampshire
Income and spending
Common questions
Is THE MARY ROSE TRUST financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported an operating deficit of £1,210,659 for the year ended 31 March 2025, driven by lower visitor income and significant cost pressures. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted reserves fell to £3,950,552, with free reserves covering only approximately six weeks of operating costs, well below the stated policy target of three months. The trustees acknowledge the charity is dependent on fundraising for survival and have initiated a strategic review and organisational restructure to address financial sustainability. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Compass Accountants Limited.
Who funds THE MARY ROSE TRUST?
Funders whose own accounts filings name THE MARY ROSE TRUST as a grant recipient include THE BAND TRUST, THE 29TH MAY 1961 CHARITY, THE ROBERT GAVRON CHARITABLE TRUST, THE ADRIAN SWIRE CHARITABLE TRUST, THE BRITFORD BRIDGE TRUST.
Known funders
Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.
Government & lottery funding
Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).
Funders of similar charities
Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.
Charities like this
Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with YORK ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST FOR EXCAVATION AND RESEARCH LIMITED.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.