The Cattewater Wreck was discovered in 1973 during channel dredging in the Cattewater, Plymouth, Devon. The site was the first wreck to be designated by the UK Government under the 1973 Protection of Wreck Act and is believed to be an unidentified armed merchantman of the first half of the 16th century.
The site was partly excavated between 1975 and 1978. Most of the site documentary archive and much of the material archive were later deposited with the Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery.
The Cattewater Wreck Archive Project aimed to improve the long term care and management of the Cattewater Wreck Excavation Archive held by Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery (called the City Museum from now on). The Project was grant funded by English Heritage's National Heritage Protection Commissions Programme (Project Number: 5439 MAIN), under the provisions of Section 45 of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
The main objective of this part of the Project was archive consolidation; a formal audit and indexing of the documentary archive and all associated artefacts to create a formal record of the present archive. A secondary objective was the improvement of the physical storage of the archive to better meet modern physical collection management standards.
