The revamped Maritime Museum at Buckler’s Hard in Beaulieu is celebrating its 50th birthday this year. Yesterday it was rededicated in a ceremony attended by Lord Ivar Mountbatten, who unveiled a plaque to celebrate the occasion.

His great-uncle, Lord Louis Mountbatten, originally opened the museum in 1963, dedicating it as a memorial to the people of Beaulieu lost at sea and as a celebration of the village’s long links with the area’s maritime heritage.

The Museum hosts an impressive collection of artifacts that tell the story of Beaulieu’s long connection with shipbuilding and the sea, with recreations showing how master builders and labourers lived in Beaulieu’s shipbuilding heyday. Nelson’s first command, HMS Agamemnon, was built here. During the Second World War, Motor Torpedo Boats were built at Beaulieu, and more recently, Sir Francis Chichester kept his succession of Gipsy Moth yachts on the river. Yesterday Gipsy Moth IV sailed over from her base at the UKSA in Cowes to join in the celebrations.

A public opening, with river cruises, will be held on the 6 and 7 April.