Cutty Sark

What to expect

Cutty Sark is a clipper ship built at Dumbarton in 1869 and named after the witch in Robert Burns's poem Tam o' Shanter. She carried tea from China, but steamships on the Suez route soon took over, so she switched to Australian wool and became the fastest ship on that route for about ten years. In 1954 she was moved into a dry dock at Greenwich and opened to the public.

The ship was damaged by fire in 2007 during conservation, and she reopened in 2012 after a restoration. The hull is raised about three metres on supports, so you can walk underneath it, under a glass roof, and look up at the planks. You can also go aboard and look at the masts and rigging. The exhibition below has a large collection of ships' figureheads, and the figurehead of the ship itself shows the witch Nannie holding a horse's tail.

Don't miss

• The hull seen from underneath
• The ship's figurehead of Nannie the witch
• The masts and rigging
• The deck
• The collection of figureheads

Tips for your visit

• Allow about an hour for the ship and exhibition.
• The area below the hull is the best spot for photos.
• It is next to the Royal Observatory and Greenwich Park, so combine them in a day.
• Greenwich is easy to combine with a walk along the river.