A DORSET family archive that achieved international significance after it helped unlock the secrets of Egyptian hieroglyphics will be displayed to the public after receiving nearly £300,000 of funding.

The Dorset History Centre, which boasts a wealth of family archives from families across Dorset, will now be able to open up the Bankes family archive after the Heritage Lottery Fund gave it a grant of £297,600.

Containing more than 800 boxes of documents, maps, and works of art, the Bankes archive is significant in Dorset and across the globe.

The Bankes family owned 16,000 acres in East Dorset and Purbeck. Dame Mary Bankes defended Corfe Castle against the Parliamentarian siege during the English Civil War.

William John Bankes, a pioneering Egyptologist, contributed to unlocking the secrets of hieroglyphics and funded the obelisk that stands on Kingston Lacy’s lawn.

The Bankes archive project is a partnership between Dorset History Centre, the National Trust (which owns the archive) and the Priest’s House Museum in Wimborne.

It will also involve collaboration with Walford Mill Crafts and the University of Exeter.

Based in Dorchester, the Dorset History Centre is owned and managed by Dorset County Council.

The total project value, including other contributions from the National Trust, Dorset County Council, the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Valentine Trust and the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust and ‘in kind’ contributions from staff and volunteers is in excess of £540,000.

Cllr Colin Jamieson, county council cabinet member for economy, said: “We are delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund has made the opening up of this archive to the public possible.

“The project will produce a full web-based catalogue of the archive detailing thousands of individual items.

“Conservation work on some of the most fragile or damaged items will need to be done and digitisation of the most significant items will be made them available online.

The project will take three years and involve dozens of volunteers. Further work on exhibitions, oral history and resources for schools will take this collection to a wider audience.

James Grasby, National Trust Regional Curator, said: “The 700 boxes of archives found at Kingston Lacy transfer information and tell stories which are lost to human memory.

“The Bankes family kept their household and estate accounts, personal letters, travel diaries, architectural drawings, maps and plans, indeed every conceivable note and scribble, for over 400 years.

“Amongst this archive are treasures, including the personal papers of William Bankes – connoisseur, friend to Byron, early traveller in Syria and Egypt and collector.

“This project will support the Trust in our ambition to conserve this invaluable resource and provide new information and interpretation for fascinating, moving and fun experiences for visitors to Kingston Lacy and Corfe Castle.”

For more information about the Dorset History centre visit dorsetforyou.com/dorsethistorycentre