PRICELESS treasures kept safe in East Lancashire will be put on display at a prestigious London venue at the end of the month.

Roman coins, medieval manuscripts, Turner watercolours and Tiffany glass are just some of the items being loaned for the exhibition by three of the region’s top museums.

Two Temple Place, the setting of Lady Rose’s wedding in the series finale of Downton Abbey, will host the ‘Cotton to Gold: Extraordinary Collections of the Industrial North West’ exhibition from January 31, to April 19. Collections have been provided by Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery, Towneley Hall in Burnley and the Haworth Art Gallery in Accrington.

The display, which will also feature Japanese prints, religious icons and ivory sculptures, focuses on 11 collectors from the 19th Century who were members of an emerging class of industrial entrepreneurs, magnates of manufacture and commerce.

The free exhibition will be housed in the neo-Gothic mansion on London’s Victoria Embankment, which played host to dramatic scenes at the end of the latest series of hit ITV period drama Downton Abbey.

Featured among the chosen pieces will be ‘Hollow of the Deep Sea Wave of Kangawa’ by Katshushika Hokusai and ‘Heights of Jubbera’ by JMW Turner from Blackburn Museum.

Paul Flintoff, Blackburn museum manager, said: “To have our stunning collections shown at London’s beautiful Two Temple Place, where visitors can discover these magnificent objects for themselves, is an unexpected thrill.“We rarely lend our collections in such volume, in fact they have never travelled together before – making this a truly unique exhibition.”

Mary Rose Gunn, chief executive of the Bulldog Trust, which owns the venue, said: “We are all excited to work with such exceptional collections from the North West and cannot wait to see them on display at Two Temple Place.

“It is a privilege to present such outstanding objects to the public.”

The show is the fourth part of Two Temple Place’s winter exhibition programme and was devised to raise the profile of museums and art galleries around the UK by showcasing their collections in London.