Are you looking for unique christmas gifts made by designer-makers which not only support local businesses but also our heritage charity?

The Lenox Project will have a stall at Deptford Bites at Christmas, which is being held on Saturday 8 December in Deptford Market Yard.
Come along to buy Lenox mugs and tea towels made by local company Lush Designs who are in Cockpit Arts in Creekside, as well as historic map tea towels of the area which are produced by My Gorgeous Cards based in Lewisham. 
We’ll be selling our Lenox Project t-shirts, tote bags and badges at the stall, alongside a selection of other craft and design stalls, ideal for christmas gifts that are a bit different.

The event also features a series of workshops where you can blend your own candle fragrances, learn how to decorate gingerbread, knit a blanket from giant wool, or just chill out with some wine tasting.

Deptford Bites at Christmas, Deptford Market Yard

Saturday 8 December, 11am-6pm

We are delighted to announce that we now have specially-designed mugs created by Deptford-based Lush Designs for sale, with all proceeds going direct to support the Lenox Project.
The bone china mugs, which are made in Staffordshire, are available for just £15 and would make an excellent christmas or birthday gift.

At this stage we are only offering them for local collection – please get in touch via info@buildthelenox.org if you want to buy one.

Lenox Project volunteers were delighted to welcome almost 700 visitors to the Master Shipwright’s House in Deptford for Open House London on 22nd and 23rd September.

Despite very wet weather over the weekend, the house was still very popular both with local visitors and with those who’d travelled from further afield to visit it.

A wide range of plans, old images and photographs of the house and the neighbouring dockyard were available for visitors to browse inside the house, and the Lenox Project brought its exhibition trailer and restored Saker cannon into the grounds of the house.

The recent demolition of neighbouring buildings on Convoys Wharf meant that the views across the former dockyard from the house were much more extensive than previously, and visitors were fascinated to learn about the rich history of the site and its maritime links. Many thanks to everyone who came to visit, and to our enthusiastic volunteers who worked so cheerfully to welcome and assist visitors despite the wet conditions.

Thanks also to those who donated to our charity, either by buying merchandise or refreshments, or simply by boosting our donations box.

If you want to find out more about donating, or buy some merchandise to support us, please visit our web page at http://www.buildthelenox.org/merchandise-and-donations/

We’re delighted to confirm that we’ll be opening the Master Shipwright’s House in Deptford for the weekend of London Open House on 22 and 23 September.

As usual there will be access to selected rooms in the house as well as the gardens, where visitors can relax and enjoy the river views.

Find out more about the house where the master shipwright of Deptford’s Royal Dockyard would have lived and worked, and discover more about the Lenox, the first of Charles II’s 30 ships, which was built in the double dock right next door.

See our restored Saker cannon and support us by buying refreshments or merchandise. Meet our volunteers and trustees and find out how you can help!

Saturday 22 September 10am-5pm
Sunday 23 September 10am-1pm
Master Shipwright’s House, Watergate Street, London SE8 3JF
Nearest stations: Deptford railway station, Deptford Bridge DLR
Buses: 47, 199, 188

We’re delighted to be able to share with you a new cut of our film about The Lenox Project, made by Matthew Lynch and Anna Delaney and shown for the first time last weekend at St Nicholas’ Church as part of the New Cross & Deptford Free Film Festival.

The Lenox Project – a short film can be watched online by clicking the link.

Lenox Project director Julian Kingston was interviewed by BBC Radio London’s Jo Good on her show on Wednesday this week.

You can listen again on the BBC’s website – this episode will be available until the end of May and is online here https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0637t3p

Booking is now open for this year’s Docklands History Group conference which takes place on Saturday 12th May at the Museum of London.

The conference has a great programme of presentations on the theme of Shipbuilding on the Thames, including one by our historian Richard Endsor titled ‘The Deptford Master Shipwright’s Secrets’. For more details and to download the booking form, visit the website http://www.docklandshistorygroup.org.uk/page33.html

The Lenox Project is taking part in the New Cross & Deptford Free Film Festival, supported by funding from Tideway, showing a swashbuckling adventure film that sets the historic context for the construction of Charles II’s thirty ships.

It is a beautifully-filmed adventure movie recounting the life of Dutch Admiral Michiel De Ruyter (Frank Lammers) from the 1653 start of the Anglo-Dutch wars to 1678, (the year Lenox was launched), via the unification of the provinces and birth of the fledgling republic.

It features spectacular and bloody sea battles with plenty of impressive wooden warships, as well as intimate scenes which are skilfully portrayed in the style of a Dutch Masters painting. In the atmospheric opening scene, the congregation in the church in the sand dunes at Huisduinen are terrified by the cannon-fire of the nearby battle of Scheveningen. Cast includes Charles Dance (King Charles II) and Rutger Hauer (Maarten Tromp).

Enjoy this unrecognised masterpiece in Deptford’s own dockyard church, a stone’s throw from where wooden ships of this era were built, and learn about the historic events that prompted Charles II to lobby for construction of a new fleet of warships, the first of which was the Lenox.

The event is sponsored by Tideway and the programme starts with a short film about The Lenox Project. Full details of the festival are available on the NXDFFF website.

Saturday 28th April
St Nicholas’ Church, Deptford Green, SE8 3DQ
Doors open: 6.30pm. Programme starts: 7pm.
Free entry. Refreshments and merchandise will be on sale.

The Lenox Project has teamed up with Smashfestuk to carry out a series of workshops in Deptford schools as part of our outreach programme funded by Tideway.

We’ve been visiting local primary schools to introduce them to the history of Deptford’s former Royal Dockyard, tell them about the Lenox Project, and get them thinking about boat building, how vessels float and what makes them move across the water.

Each team gets a chance to choose what materials to use for their boat, think about what shape is best to keep it afloat and help it to move, and to have a go at building and sailing their own vessel.

Students also learn about the densities of different materials and try to work out what’s happening when you put water, oil and polystyrene in the same bottle together.We’ve had great fun going into our local schools and telling them all about the history of Deptford and getting them excited about boat building. As these students could be our future crew we need to get them on board (pun intended!) as young as possible!Smashfestuk’s annual science, technology, engineering and arts festival for families takes place at the Albany and the Deptford Lounge from 12-16 February – and it’s totally free! This year’s theme is flood and there’s plenty to do for all the family, including boat building – we hope to see you there!