BURNLEY'S historic Towneley Hall will get a new lease of life thanks to a £1.1 million Heritage Lottery Fund grant announced today.

The cash gives the green light to a £1.4 million improvement package, aimed at attracting thousands more visitors to the famous art gallery and museum.

A new wing will be built onto the council-owned Grade I listed country house on the site of a demolished service wing, providing school rooms, library, shop, toilets and a lift and ramps to improve access to the mainly 18th century building.

Rooms which have been used as offices for years will be re-opened to the public and there will be new displays throughout the hall, including interactive computer displays and new education services.

The extension will allow many valuable collections, some kept in store for over 50 years, to go back on public display, says assistant curator Mike Graham.

The package includes extended opening, which could result in the gallery opening its doors on Saturdays and in the evenings.

Better customer facilities could also bring a boom in social functions at the hall, already popular because of its superb setting, but presently restricted by lack of toilet and other services. Museum and council staff were today cock-a-hoop over the success of the lottery bid which has taken three years to reach fruition.

Work, says Mr Graham, is expected to start later this year, with completion in 2002 - the museum's centenary year.

The Heritage Lottery grant accounts for nearly 75 per cent of the cost, the remaining funds coming from many sources including the Massey, Fairclough and Ashcroft bequests, North West Museums Service, Towneley Hall Society, Burnley Council and the town's Challenge Fund.

Council leisure chairman Barry Guttridge said: "It is wonderful news.

"It will allow us to make all those improvements we have wanted for years.

"It will be a great way of celebrating the museum's centenary," he added. The hall, the jewel in the crown of Burnley's greatest assets, set in nearly 300 acres of parkland, dates back to the 14th century but has been subject to many changes and alterations since.

It contains period rooms in the style of the 17th century and has been described as "the the finest early Georgian interior in the country," attracting around 48,000 visitors a year.

The home of the Towneley family since the 15th century, it was sold to Burnley council for £17,500 in 1901.

The major award may only be the first of two major improvement packages at Towneley, with council bosses set to make another Heritage Lottery bid for a £1.7 million scheme to transform and restore the gardens and parklands.

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