Qualla: National Motor Museum, Beaulieu

National Motor Museum, Beaulieu: Introduction

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit David Lauder at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. It began as a memorial. In 1952, Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, the 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, opened the front hall of his ancestral house to the public, set out five cars and some automobilia, and called it a museum. The tribute was for his father - the 2nd Baron Montagu - who had driven a motor car into the yard of the Houses of Parliament before anyone else, and who had taught the future King Edward VII to drive in the 1890s. The five cars outgrew the front hall almost immediately. By 1959, attendance had crossed 290,000 a year. By 1964, half a million. The tribute had become an institution.

Image: David Lauder at English Wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

National Motor Museum, Beaulieu: From Front Hall to Purpose-Built

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Starinthesouth, CC BY 4.0. By the early 1960s, Lord Montagu and his trustees realised the wooden sheds behind Palace House could not keep up. A design committee chaired by the architect Sir Hugh Casson commissioned Leonard Manasseh's practice; the building was largely the work of his partner Ian Baker. The...

Image: Starinthesouth | CC BY 4.0

National Motor Museum, Beaulieu: Record-Breakers Under One Roof

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rob Farrow, CC BY-SA 2.0. Walk through the galleries and the range is startling. Earliest motor carriages share floor space with World Land Speed record cars: the Bluebird CN7, the Golden Arrow, the Sunbeam 350hp and the colossal Sunbeam 1000hp, the first car to break 200 mph. A recreated 1930s garage hol...

Image: Rob Farrow | CC BY-SA 2.0

National Motor Museum, Beaulieu: On-Screen Cars and a Whispered Secret

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Charlesdrakew at English Wikipedia, Public domain. The 'On Screen Cars' gallery is where the museum lets itself have fun. Del Boy's three-wheeled Reliant Regal from 'Only Fools and Horses'. Mr. Bean's lime-green Mini. Doctor Who's roadster, Bessie. The Jaguar XKR Convertible from 'Die Another Day' lives in the permanent collectio...

Image: Charlesdrakew at English Wikipedia | Public domain

National Motor Museum, Beaulieu: An Estate, Not Just a Museum

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Troxx, CC BY 2.5. The Motor Museum is one ticket among several on the Beaulieu estate. Walk down the path and Palace House waits, the Montagu family home built into the gatehouse of a 13th-century Cistercian abbey. The partial ruins of Beaulieu Abbey, dissolved by Henry VIII, are still on the grou...

Image: Troxx | CC BY 2.5