A POPULAR museum about the origins of the regions industry is set for an expansion after receiving a heritage lottery funding grant.
The Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum, in partnership with Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, has started building its 21st Century museum.
The museum received a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant of £1,225,000 in addition to the £800,000 from the Coastal Community Fund, £200,000 from the Tees Valley Combined Authority and £50,000 in private donations.
Made possible by money raised by National Lottery players, the new museum will have a walk around exhibition area, completely renovated experience tour.
On top of this two classrooms and modern archive storage with a room where the public can arrange to view our extensive collection of objects, books and maps.
Back in 2018, the museum suffered a disaster as its roof was damaged during the 'Beast from the East'.
The Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum is the only ironstone mining museum, on the site of a real mine, anywhere in the world.
Situated on the site of Loftus mine which was one of the first to open in 1857 and one of the last to close in 1957.
The museum remembers the ironstone mining and iron making heritage of East Cleveland which was once the powerhouse of the British Empire.
The region provided a third of the world’s iron and steel at its height and the museum has evidence of East Cleveland iron and steel being supplied to nearly continent.
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Graham Banwell Director at the museum said: “This project is a real game-changer for the mining museum.
“It means we move from being a small museum, only able to open in the summer, to the largest independent museum in Teesside and open all the year.”
Councillor Louise Westbury, member of the Cabinet at Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, said: “Our industrial heritage is a fundamental part of who we are in Redcar and Cleveland and it is very important that our history is remembered.
“This is a fantastic project at a brilliant museum that will not only attract new tourists but educational facilities and important archive space.
" I congratulate everyone involved as their hard work begins to pay off and can’t wait to see the new museum.”
Father Adam Gaunt, Chairman of the museum’s board of trustees and Rector Loftus, Carlin How and Skinningrove said: “This development is genuinely good news and I know that the whole community will be delighted to see work commencing on this historic project.
“The rebuilding and refurbishment of our museum represents the largest single investment into a tourist attraction ever to be made in this parish and, once completed, the new museum will allow us to share our unique industrial heritage with visitors from across the generations and from around the world.”
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