A TOWN'S priceless heirloom, hidden from view for decades, is to be given a £50,000 makeover and put on public display.

The store room treasure is a map, painted in oils on sail cloth, in 1716 - a century before the birth of the industrial and commercial centre of Middlesbrough.

The 13sq ft map, trimmed down from its original 14sq ft size, was commissioned by local aristocrat Sir William Hustler, of Acklam Hall, who wanted a detailed plan of his estate. It shows familiar area names of Middlesbrough, such as Linthorpe, Acklam, Ayresome, Marton and outlying Hemlington, as no more than farms and villages.

In contrast to today's urban sprawl, the map depicts a rural estate with detailed field sizes, a ferry plying across the River Tees at Newport, and a long sandbar in the river where the creaking Transporter Bridge now stands.

With the help of a National Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £50,000, the map, which is in three sections, will be cleaned and restored by a team of experts during the next six months.

Cleaned, varnished and trimmed in 1937, it was cut into three sections in the 1960s and stored in the Teesside Archives.

Information and images from the map will be posted on the Middlesbrough website.

Senior librarian Larry Bruce said: "It has been a team effort to secure the future for this amazing piece of the town's heritage."

Councillor Chris Robson, Middlesbrough Borough Council's commissioner for culture, said: "This is a regional treasure, so we're delighted to restore it."