Newark's £5.5m Civil War museum plans move forward

Plans to turn historical buildings in a Nottinghamshire town into a £5.5m national centre about the English Civil War have moved a step closer.

Newark and Sherwood District Council wants to restore Newark's Magnus buildings into a museum incorporating exhibiting about the 17th Century war.

The authority has now submitted a bid for £3.5m of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

It will learn if the application has been successful in May.

'Exciting time'

Councillor Roger Jackson, the district council's cabinet member for leisure and culture, said the museum and learning centre could be opened in 2014 if the funding bid was successful.

He said: "It's a very exciting time for Newark. We've got a business plan put together and hopefully we could generate an income from having the museum.

"Hopefully it will bring a lot more people into the town as well and bring more money into the town."

The council has been working with the HLF to put together plans to renovate the Magnus buildings, part of which date back to 1529.

The Royalists surrendered Newark following a siege in 1646 towards the end of the civil war, which resulted in the defeat of King Charles I by the Parliamentarians.