Introducing Bristol Dockyards
Something exciting is happening on the Bristol harbourside. We're changing our name - and with it, opening a new chapter in the life of one of the most remarkable places in Britain.
We are now Bristol Dockyards.
The SS Great Britain isn't going anywhere. Bristol’s iconic ship still sits in the original dry dock, exactly where Brunel built her, as extraordinary and awe-inspiring as ever. But this new name is our way of saying who we are and where we're headed: a thriving harbourside destination, rooted in Bristol, open to the world, and full of stories that matter.
More than a ship. More than ever.
For years, our work has been growing. Today, alongside caring for the world's first great ocean liner, we run a world-leading education programme, conserve two historic dockyards and an internationally significant maritime archive, and host a year-round programme of cultural activity that brings people together from across Bristol and beyond.
Bristol Dockyards is the home of ideas that changed the world. It's what this place has always been. A radical spirit lives here: in Brunel's bold, brilliant engineering; in the stories of the people who built, sailed and travelled on the Great Britain; and in the debates, discoveries and connections that happen here every day.
We hope our new name captures exactly that.
A new museum, and a bigger story to tell
This summer, we're opening a brand part of the SS Great Britain Experience, and we can't wait to share it with you.
The new museum draws on decades of research and the Brunel Institute's remarkable archive of over 75,000 original drawings, letters and artefacts. It's been developed in close collaboration with local community groups and researchers, bringing fresh eyes and new voices to the history of this extraordinary ship.
The stories you'll find inside are bigger, deeper and more diverse than ever before. You'll discover the lives of the people who built the ship and the Bristolians who shaped her early years. You'll follow the Great Britain's role as the most popular ship connecting Britain and Australia, carrying thousands of migrants towards new lives. You'll learn about her voyages to Crimea and India, and the communities in Bristol today whose histories are intertwined with hers.
And you'll meet people like George Moses, a ship's cook from Jamaica, and James W. Jones, a Barbadian musician and poet, individuals whose stories have been hidden for too long, now finally given the place they deserve.
This is heritage for the 21st century: inclusive, community-led, and globally connected.
The journey ahead
The new museum, opening on 18 July 2026, is just the beginning. Our vision is to transform the dockyard into a full cultural and learning campus - a place of creativity, curiosity and conversation, reflecting the diversity and energy of modern Bristol.
Bristol has always been a city of radical ideas and global connections. Bristol Dockyards is here to honour that, and to keep writing the story.
