By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter
The Natural History Museum galleries at Wollaton Hall will be refurbished to make them more engaging for visitors.
Nottingham City Council, which runs the hall and deer park, says the refurbishment will be paid for using a £226,000 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
In September 2019, the council’s Executive Board approved the Wollaton gallery refurbishment programme, but this could only take place when it was deemed affordable.
The council says research with visitors had shown the galleries were in need of improvements.
Delegated decision documents say: “Audience research shows that whilst Wollaton Hall is greatly cherished by local communities, they find that the un-refurbished galleries are tired looking and not engaging.”
Since opening in 1926, Wollaton Hall has been home to Nottingham’s Natural History Museum.
The Natural History Museum at Wollaton Hall is the largest dedicated natural history museum in Nottinghamshire featuring 750,000 objects.
These include fossils, minerals, plants, invertebrates, vertebrates, shells and taxidermy, as well as preserved ‘spirit’ animals and rare specimens from across the world.
Around 100,000 pressed plants are on display alongside more than 47,000 rocks and fossils.
The site is currently managed by the council’s Museums Service alongside Newstead Abbey and, more recently, Nottingham Castle.
Council documents add: “The grant has been awarded for the Wollaton Hall Transformation Programme and will be used to transform the Natural History Museum permanent galleries at Wollaton Hall, to make them more engaging for a wider audience.
“The newly re-furbished galleries will become part of the overall free offer at Wollaton.”
