The National Motor Museum, which was founded in 1952 by the Montagu family at Beaulieu in the UK’s New Forest area, has been given notice by the family that its lease will not be renewed. This leaves the museum and its 250-plus vehicles and 1.9 million artefacts looking for a new home.
The origins of the National Motor Museum go back to 1952 when Edward, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu opened Palace House to the public. Five veteran cars were displayed in the entrance of the house as a tribute to Edward’s father, John, 2nd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu – a famed motoring pioneer who also founded weekly journal The Car Illustrated and monthly journal The Car.
By 1956 the display in Palace House had grown and was moved into converted wooden outbuildings to create the first Montagu Motor Museum. Edward, Lord Montagu also launched a new motoring periodical in that year, The Veteran & Vintage Magazine. By 1959 the Montagu Motor Museum had proved so popular that it moved into a larger, specially made building. There were even Montagu Motor Museums opened in Brighton by 1961 and Measham in the Midlands in 1962.
In 1972 the Montagu Motor Museum at Beaulieu was replaced by the National Motor Museum as an independent museum backed by a charitable trust, The National Motor Museum Trust, which still exists. A new purpose-built museum building was opened in July 1972.
The National Motor Museum Trust has now announced that it has begun the process of identifying “a transformational new home for the National Motor Museum as its current lease at Beaulieu approaches the end of its 60-year term”.
For several years now, the Museum’s strategy has been focussed on engaging with new generations of motoring enthusiasts and diverse communities, as well as expanding its work in learning and community engagement. This included a vision for the development of a training centre for heritage engineering apprenticeships.
Over the last two years the Trust and the Montagu family have been discussing ways to achieve these ambitions in the Museum at Beaulieu through major donor investment and potential redevelopment. They’ve now concluded that the next stage of the National Motor Museum’s plans and charitable purpose as what the Trust refers to as “the national repository of British motoring heritage” can best be achieved through a move to a new home.
Robert MacGregor, chair of the board of trustees of The National Motor Museum Trust said: “We are sad that the National Motor Museum will be leaving Beaulieu but are at the same time very excited about this once in a generation opportunity to transform the Museum for the future.
“We want to thank the Montagu family for founding the Trust in 1970 and for their continued support as the Museum finds a new home and embarks on the next stage of its journey. A new home can refresh our whole approach, enable us to make the collection more accessible, expand our educational and community impact, and ensure Britain’s motoring story remains relevant.”
Lord Montagu of Beaulieu (Ralph, son of Edward, above) said: “My father’s underlying ambition was to record and celebrate the story of motoring for the benefit of the nation. He founded the National Motor Museum Trust to do that, but its collections and activities have expanded beyond what anyone at the time envisaged. The charity’s long-term aims will now stand the best chance of being achieved if it can be based in a new home.
“I remain committed to honouring my father’s legacy by continuing to do all I can to support the trust. Wherever the National Motor Museum and its collections may be located in the future, Beaulieu will continue to develop as a leading south coast attraction, offering a comparable range of experiences to what people enjoy today, with cars remaining very much a part of our identity.”
It’s understood that Beaulieu will keep the cars that belong to the Montagu family – but the vast majority of the vehicles and the 1.9 million artefacts belong to the Trust and will move to the new location, once that has been found.
The Trust will now begin exploring potential locations capable of supporting its long-term ambitions while safeguarding its internationally important collection and continuing public access. During this period, visitors to Beaulieu will see no change and the plan to run the Sunbeam 1000hp land speed record car at Daytona Beach in March 2027 remains unaffected.
The Museum’s location has been both a positive and a negative over the years. Beaulieu and the wider New Forest are picturesque and tourist-friendly, but the capacity for expansion and the heavy traffic in the area have limited the potential to grow visitor numbers. The move does have the potential to create a more accessible, larger National Motor Museum but it will need extensive funding.
