A MUSEUM has been awarded gold at a regional tourism awards show.

Portsmouth’s Mary Rose Museum received the award as Large Visitor Attraction of the Year at the Beautiful South Awards 2014 held in Brighton.

The Historic Portsmouth Dockyard museum will now champion the region at the national VisitEngland awards in 2015.

Labelled as “Britain’s Pompeii” the Mary Rose was Henry VIII’s favourite warship. She sunk during the Battle of the Solent in 1545 and was recovered from the sea-bed in 1982.

In May last year the Mary Rose Museum was opened housing the hull and many thousands of its Tudor artefacts.

Paul Griffiths, head of operations at The Mary Rose Trust, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have won this award, it has been a wonderful year for the Mary Rose Museum and the city of Portsmouth and this award is an amazing end to the year.

“We have an exceptional and dedicated team of staff and volunteers at the Mary Rose Trust and this award is testament to all their hard work.”