Wrens Museum
– NOW OPEN –
Entry included with Western Approaches ticket, available here
Open 10am-5pm (last entry at 4pm)
Explore the history of the Women’s Royal Naval Service in this exciting permanent exhibition opened on the 23rd of April 2022.
Wrens Museum is a new museum devoted to the history of women in Royal Navy service, located inside long-forgotten sleeping quarters used during the war. Walk the underground corridors where the women of the WRNS lived and worked in the 1940s and explore the service from its humble inception in 1917, to its full integration into the Royal Navy in the 1990s. Discover the significance of the service and its influence on the women serving in the Royal Navy today – without their efforts the history of the Navy would likely have been very different!
The story is told through a selection of fascinating objects and displays, though the subterranean rooms themselves tell their own tale. During the war, around 800 women worked at Western Approaches and although most were billeted in nearby houses, many spent their nights here in the bunker. The girls – mostly aged just 18-21 – worked tirelessly in conditions of utmost secrecy, playing an invisible yet vital role in the Allied victory. Our researchers have uncovered stories, memories and unique artifacts spanning the entire timeline of the service.
These young women were not mere typists and administrators, as people often assume. The staff of the Western Approaches Tactical Unit trained in anti-submarine warfare, developing tactics used to turn the tide against the U-Boat menace. In wargaming scenarios they often beat experienced seagoing captains, proving that women were just as capable for the rigours of Royal Navy work as men. Despite this impressive performance, it would be another five decades before women could serve aboard an operational warship.
The role of the WRNS has been underappreciated for far too long, and we hope you’ll join us for a closer look at this fascinating service.
