The Mary Rose, Henry VIII’s 16th century flagship, has received a £21m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The warship, which sank in the Solent (the stretch of sea between the Isle of Wight and mainland Britain) in 1545, was raised in 1982 and has been a hugely popular display in Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard.

Now – in what will be the last major lottery heritage grant before the fund is diverted to the London Olympics – the site will undergo a £35m development that will see a permanent museum built to house the ship and the 19,000 artefacts recovered from her.

John Lippiett, chief executive of The Mary Rose Trust, said: “The museum, designed by Wilkinson Eyre with Pringle Brandon as the interior architects, will be remarkable. It will contain almost 70 per cent of the ship’s recovered artefacts instead of the 6 per cent in the current exhibition.

"There will be something for everyone once we have finished. The hugely important aspects of improved access and increased learning space for the many thousands of students who visit each year will finally be achieved.”

“The hard work starts now,” he said. “The Trust has to raise the match funding of £14m within a very tight timescale. We are encouraged already to have raised £3.5m in cash and pledges including a very generous £1m donation from the Garfield Weston Foundation. Our call now is for everyone to get behind the fundraising to help us preserve this priceless national treasure forever.”

The Heritage Lottery Fund will also grant £10m towards the restoration of the Cutty Sark, the famous 19th clipper, which was gutted by fire last year,