Derby branch

The Derby Branch focuses on the Rolls-Royce Company and its ancestors, F H Royce and Company, later Royce Limited, and C S Rolls and Company. It has a Heritage Centre and workshops in Derby and the Hucknall Group, based at the old Flight Test Establishment near Nottingham, has a further extensive display of aero engines with associated workshops.

The Branch has growing archives and, at Hucknall, holds all Merlin, Griffon, Derwent and Nene engine drawings. It also has many engines and collections of memorabilia, which are not on display.

While taking a close interest in the Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars produced up to the second World War in particular (all post-war production has been at Crewe in the previous Merlin Shadow Factory), the Trust is not the authority on the cars. In that field, the experts are the Rolls-Royce and Bentley owners clubs world-wide, and the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts' Club in Britain. Its archives, housed with the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation, cover the whole history of the Rolls-Royce car and include the original company documentation, placed with them for safekeeping by Bentley Motors Limited. The Trust is the world authority on the evolution of Rolls-Royce as a company and on its aero engines and other products.

Lectures

(Held at Learning & Development Centre, Wilmore Road, Derby unless otherwise announced – All Welcome – Free Admission - Heritage Exhibition open for one hour before Derby lectures)

Publication

The branch magazine, 'Archive' is published three times a year for members and covers all aspects of Rolls-Royce Limited heritage.

Historical collection and exhibits

The Trust collection is housed in the Learning and Development Centre (LDC) in Derby, and contains a representative selection of Rolls-Royce Limited aero-engines and sectioned parts, from the formation of the Company to the present day. Currently included are Eagle, Hawk, Kestrel, Merlin, Griffon and gas turbines of the Welland and Derwent to the Trent and early Rolls-Royce cars.

Original oil paintings and a variety of aviation artefacts complete the exhibit which complements the comprehensive collection of Derby-designed aero engines held on the Company's behalf by the Derby Industrial Museum.

There is also an exhibition area so that the Heritage Trust can ‘open its doors’ and allow people to see the work the Trust is involved in and the exhibits that have made Rolls-Royce the company it is today.

The Heritage Trust exhibition area contains items from all the branches of the trust and incorporates changing themed displays that cover the whole spectrum of the Company's products and technologies.

A 'Hall of Fame' to the early aero-engine pioneers is also located in the LDC. This is in the area known as 'the street'.

Contact

Visits to the Heritage Centre are by appointment only.

Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust
Derby Branch
PO Box 31
Derby DE24 8BJ
England

The Hucknall section of the Derby Branch houses its own comprehensive collection of Rolls-Royce Limited piston and gas turbine engines at the Hucknall airfield site near Nottingham. Visits are by appointment through

Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust
Wing Hangar
Hucknall
Notts NG15 6EU
England