34 CONTEXT 187 : MARCH 2026 During the summer of 2025 at Buckler’s Hard, a small settlement on the Beaulieu Estate in the New Forest, an excavation saw the uncovering of a ship slipway, providing tangible evidence for the construction site of the HMS Agamemnon, a Royal Navy ship, captained by Horatio Nelson from 1793. This excavation, led collaboratively by Mary Montagu-Scott, chair of the Buckler’s Hard Shipyard Trust and Jon Adams and Rodrigo Ortiz-Vazquez of the University of Southampton Centre for Maritime Archaeology, involved a team of volunteers. It was conducted primarily to uncover Slipway 2, used to build HMS Agamemnon from 1777, following investigations of the slipways completed between 1993–98 by the Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology and the University of Southampton. A slipway is a ‘track’ formed of wooden lengths defining its sides, with wooden baulks (termed ‘groundways’) set between, on which the ship could be built from the keel up and, once completed, slid along and down into the water. The 2025 excavation, with the buildings of Buckler’s Hard in the background (Photo: Mary MontaguScott) ROSEMARY THORNBER AND MARY MONTAGU-SCOTT Buckler’s Hard, Beaulieu: building the Georgian navy Buckler’s Hard in the New Forest, Hampshire, offers insights into maritime construction techniques, industrial practices and logistical infrastructure from medieval times. Shipbuilding was known in the New Forest from at least the 13th century, when stone was transported along the river to build Beaulieu Abbey from 1204. The ‘hard’ was a gravelled area among the mudflats of the riverbanks, where it was safe to land, to load and unload goods. The surrounding forest provided ample resources for building vessels for transport of these goods. These two factors contributed to The 1996 dig of Slipway 1 with students from the University of Southampton
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