Getting Here
Magazine No.5
Centurion Way
Purfleet-on-Thames
Essex RM19 1ZZ
OPENING HOURS
The Centre is also open on Bank Holiday Mondays from 10:00 to 15:00 provided staff are available, please contact us to check if you plan to visit on these days.
Free Car Parking is available on site when the Centre is open, apart from on Event dates.
We are approximately 10 minutes walk, half a mile, from Purfleet Station on the C2C line.
The Centre is fully accessible.
We are recognised as a Dementia Friendly Venue.
We have a small Gift Shop and Tea Bar on site.
The Centre is housed in a 260+ year old Grade 1 listed building. All income goes towards the maintenance of the building and the artefacts on display.
Carers and children 4 and under are free of charge.
Assistance dogs only please.
Group visits are welcome, please contact us for details.
Adult
Concession
Ages 60+
Children & Students
Ages 5 to 16 years or in full time education
Membership entitles you to free entry to the Purfleet Heritage and Military Centre on all dates the the centre is open.
You will also get a discount in the tea bar, receive a members newsletter twice annually and invitation to Member only events.
Individual
Family
Two adults and dependant children u16
The Magazine has displays of thousands of historic artefacts telling the UKs military history.
Displays include; the Royal Navy from Nelson's era to WW2, the RAF from it's beginnings as the Royal Flying Corps to the Battle of Britain and Bomber Command, RFC Suttons Farm and the "Zepp Killers", RAF Hornchuch, the British Army from the colonial campaigns of the 19th century, through the World wars and into the Falklands and Gulf wars.
Come and see a WW1 Livens Projector and a genuine Boer War mountain gun that still fires on event days. And visit the Hornchurch Wing, the most extensive collection of originak artefacts from RAF Hornchurch, one of the key fighter stations defending Britain during both World Wars.
The building itself is history. Built in the 1760's to be a key part of the UKs military infrastructure, it is now Grade 1 listed and a scheduled ancient monument.
It was built with walls thick enough to withstand bombardment, with a natural cooling system to ensure the gunpowder inside was kept in best condition. Magazine number 5 is one of the few remaining traces of the Royal Ordinance site at Purfleet, and the Garrison that surrounded it.
Come and learn the history of the site, the buildings and the men and women that worked there, and see the oldest working overhead crane system in the world.
And maybe meet our resident ghost, Morriss...
If time is llimited, here is our suggestion for "must see items".
We also concentrate on Purfleet-on-Thames and it's history.
The Garrison and the Rifle Range was a huge part of this but the industrial history is also explored with displays on local factories like Van den Burgh and Jurgens, and Thames Board Mills.
We also explore the way we lived with recontructed 1940s living room and kitchen, hardware, camera and electronics and vintage toy shop.
How did your great grandma do her washing? What is Purfleet's connection to Count Dracula? And what was it like on the Home Front in wartime? Experience what it was like during an air raid in an Anderson Shelter.
Remembering the men and women of Purfleet who gave their lives in two World Wars.
Memorials outside the Heritage Centre are accessible at any time whether we are open or not.
We work closely with the Thurrock Nepalese Gurkha Community to remember the proud hictory of the Gurkha Regiment with a display dedicated to the Gurkhas, and the only dedicated memorial in Essex to these brave men.
We are recognised as the Gurkha's second museum in the UK after the Regiment's official museum in Winchester.
"Absolutely fascinating museum housed in a unique building. It is run by a team of very knowledgeable and helpful volunteers. The exhibits include not just a vast collection of militaria, but also everday objects from times past."
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