Yorkshire Sculpture Park's 18th Century chapel to be restored

A new path is to be built to make it easy to visit the new gallery.

Work has begun on a £500,000 restoration of a grade II-listed chapel within the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) to turn it into exhibition space.

The 270-year old chapel on the Bretton Estate at West Bretton, West Yorkshire needs urgent repair, the YSP said.

The roof and exterior are to be renovated and a permanent path is to be built to make it easy to visit the planned gallery.

The project still needs to raise £100,000 to be finished by spring 2014.

Andy Carver, director of development at YSP said: "The restoration will bring the building back to its former glory and give us a versatile space for exhibitions and events."

The chapel was built in 1744 by Sir William Wentworth who owned the hall and estate the Georgian sandstone chapel served.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the first of its kind in the UK and the biggest in Europe, opened in 1977.

It covers 500 acres of the old estate and attracts about 300,000 visitors a year.