SWANAGE Museum is moving out of an historic tithe barn infested with death-watch beetle and into the town's council-run Heritage Centre.

Purbeck District Council is applying for a £50,000 Heritage Lottery grant to create exhibition displays for the museum's collection at its centre on Swanage seafront.

Dorset County Council's museums adviser David Tucker said: "The partnership between the Swanage Museum and Purbeck District Council offers Swanage museum the potential to increase its visitor figures tenfold."

The 17th-century tithe barn, which has been the museum's home since 1976, is closed to the public because death-watch beetle has made its roof unsafe. However, family history researchers continue to have access to its record office, which is unaffected.

Swanage Museum leaders had originally considered applying for Heritage Lottery funding in excess of £160,000 to help maintain the tithe barn but the bid was unsuccessful for several reasons, including the fact that the museum does not own the barn.

It was leased to the museum by Tony Parsons, a member of a Swanage family of builders, who has since died.

Cllr Tony Miller, Purbeck District Council's tourism spokesman, said: "The tithe barn is no longer an option for the museum because of the need for extensive repairs to the building.

"Moving the museum's exhibits to the existing Heritage Centre will ensure that its important assets are preserved for future generations."

The Heritage Centre attracts around 45,000 visitors a year and Nina Elston, Purbeck District Council's tourism officer who will manage the bid for lottery funding, said: "I'm very pleased that the move will enable us to preserve the heritage assets of Swanage."

First published: March 31