WITCHCRAFT and the famous Pendle witches will feature in a new exhibition at Pendle Heritage Centre - thanks to a £250,000 National Lottery grant announced today.

Heritage Lottery officers granted an application for funds to improve and restore the 18th century Park Hill House at the heart of the Barrowford heritage area.

The centre was today named as one of only three projects to receive cash backing in the North West in the latest allocation of funds.

New exhibitions will be added, covering the social history of the Pendle Forest area, including the story of the Pendle witches.

The Lancashire Witches Trail starts at the centre and takes visitors to Lancaster 30 miles away where the witches were tried in 1612.

Structural repairs to the Grade ll-listed building will restore its historic character.

The Heritage Fund says modern interactive techniques will give the public new interpretation of the collections and disabled access will be improved.

The grant is one of 39 announced to day for projects throughout the UK, worth more than £11 million.

The news comes just a month after the restoration and reopening of the old barn which has been transformed into a conference centre on the site.

Today John Miller, director of Heritage Trust in the North West which is based at the centre, said the latest grant was the last piece in a jigsaw of improvements which had attracted £1.2 million to buildings leased from Pendle Council at no cost to council taxpayers. He said the improvements, linked to state-of-the-art display techniques, formed part of a major tourism initiative at the centre.

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