Inside the Castle Keep. © Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service

An exciting array of new items, displays and services will soon be arriving at Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery.

Thanks to a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) Award of £199,500 visitors the castle will soon be experiencing some exciting the new improvements and displays.

Archaeology curator Dr Tim Pestell told 24hr Museum: “The funding will make a huge difference! The collecting cultures money will enable us to spend more time on delivery of service to our users rather than constantly trying to find funding.”

“More crucially, and less highlighted, have been all the other aspects of the project that we will now be able to embark upon.”

The Castle beat stiff competition to win their grant, which comes from HLF’s one-off development programme Collecting Cultures.

In order to gain the highly sought after funds staff had to do more than just propose a field in which to collect acquisitions or demonstrate how curatorial skills would be developed. Demands also included having to demonstrate how they would increase public involvement and enjoyment in their collections.

An earlier acquisition unearthed at a temple site in Hockwold, south-west Norfolk shows the good work between Norfolk archaeologists and metal detectorists. © Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service

Clearly then, the Castle has excellent plans for improvements in these areas. Tim Pestell explained: “We will have money for training and career development, not just for curators but our front of house staff. We will have a number of educational outreach programmes that we can now fund for five years, reaching out to disadvantaged groups.”

“I am very excited that we can finally have an open evening for metal detectorists once a year, as a thank you for all their hard work and co-operation with us. We also have money for new display cases and improving security, which will enable us to have more temporary loan displays. There is also money for developing our web-based resources, allowing people to see what is in our collections.”

The Castle spans the entire history of Norwich, a city over 900 years old and internationally renknowned for its levels of preserved heritage.

Staff work hard to support a wide variety of collections including Anglo-Saxon, Viking, Roman, Medieval, Victorian and World War I, Natural History and Arts. Despite producing more archaeological finds than any other county in Britain, the Castle has often lacked the funding needed to buy new finds.

© Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service

Tim revealed: “There are a number of items we have been trying to acquire for some time, but which we have been unable to due to lack of funds. Now we can progress these. But I’m not tempting providence by elaborating any further!”

The funding is about to be released and progress will begin directly, so get down to the Castle to see for yourself the difference the new funding will make.

Katie Brinkley is the 24 Hour Museum/Norwich HEART Student Writer in Norwich. Norwich Heritage Economic and Regeneration Trust (HEART) is the groundbreaking initiative to regenerate, manage and promote one of the most remarkable heritage resources in the UK and in Europe.