The National Coal Mining Museum for England has received a £1.95m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

The funding will be used to develop new interactive displays as well as towards conserving the Museum’s 130-year-old furnace shaft.

Work on the shaft will begin immediately and museum management hopes to introduce the new displays early next year.

Fiona Spiers, HLF manager for Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “Mining was once a pivotal part of the UK's industry and has a deep-rooted part of our shared heritage.

“We need to find new ways to make sure the stories of the pits are passed on and to secure any remaining landmarks. Our funding announced today will do just that.”

The Museum, near Dewsbury in Yorkshire, opened in 1988 as the Yorkshire Mining Museum and was awarded national status in 1995, with free admission to the museum and underground tour introduced in 2002.