Tudor treats as Christmas past celebrated at Portsmouth's historic dockyard

'A very Mary Christmas'- Richard Slee reports on Tudor Christmas celebrations at Portsmouth's historic dockyards.

Visitors to the historic dockyard in Portsmouth have been experiencing times of Christmas past with a Tudor Christmas at the Mary Rose exhibition and a Victorian Christmas on HMS Warrior.

The idea is to give people a taste of how Christmas would have been celebrated in the time of Henry the eighth.

"The Tudors were just like us " says Josephine Payter-Harris from the Mary Rose Trust.- they liked to eat drink and be merry. 

"They celebrated the 12 days of Christmas.  They liked feasting, music and merriment"

The role players are a mix of actors and volunteers - who welcome and inform visitors.

On nearby HMS Warrior - they've been embracing the Victorian era.

"It's a very traditional Christmas that we still celebrate today for example Christmas trees came in with Prince Albert, " says Eileen Clegg, from the National Museum of the Royal Navy.

"All the things here, many of the people still do them today - like listening to a brass band playing carols."   

Next year there are plans to extend the number of weekends where visitors can enjoy the experience of a Christmas past.