Plans to transform a heritage site into a world class attraction have received a massvie cash boost.

Brymbo Heritage Trust has  scooped a National Lottery grant of more than £800,000 to develop its vision to revive the former iron and steelworks and fossil forest.

The National Lottery grant will allow the trust to engage the full range of design, engineering and legal professionals needed to develop fully costed proposals, ahead of a second stage application in late 2019.

If that application proves successful the building work will get underway in 2020 with the facilities opening a year later.

Nick Amyes, chairman of Brymbo Heritage Trust, said: “We faced tough competition to secure this funding, and we’re absolutely delighted with this news.

“It came 27 years to the day after Brymbo Steelworks closed its doors on September 27, 1990.

“Thank you to all of the National Lottery’s players up and down the country for helping us bring a big part of our community back to life.”

Built in the late 1790s by prominent industrialist and cast iron pioneer John ‘Iron Mad Jack’ Wilkinson, and producing steel from 1884 onwards the works ceased operation in 1990. 

John ‘Iron Mad’ Wilkinson  pioneered the manufacture of cast iron during the Industrial Revolution.

He invented a precision boring machine that could bore out cannon and cast iron cylinders, such as those used in steam engines  of James Watt and Matthew Bouton – his boring machine has been credited as being the world’s first machine tool.

He also improved the efficiency of blast furnaces, and led the early development of the world’s first metal single span bridge – the ‘Iron Bridge’ – in Bridgnorth, Shropshire.

Brymbo Fossil Forest was discovered in 2005 and contains a wealth of fossiled trees, stems, seeds, roots from the late carboniferous period from 280 to 320 million years ago.

These were found within 100 metres of the iron works and show how the botany and climate of the time combined to lay the coal seams that led directly to the UK’s industrial growth.

Along with Wilkinson’s story and the plant fossils, Brymbo Heritage Area will tell the story of the later steelworks

and its impact on the local area.  From fossils to coal, iron to steel, closure to regeneration, Brymbo has a rich story to tell.

If successful in securing a full grant of £5m from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), the Trust aims to transform them along with the nearby Brymbo Fossil Forest into a major visitor attraction, learning centre and community space known as Brymbo Heritage Area.

John Glen, UK Government minister for arts, heritage and tourism, said: ”This exciting project will tell the story of Brymbo’s illustrious industrial pas.

“It will boost the local economy through a new cultural tourist attraction. 

It is a fantastic example of how the National Lottery is helping to preserve and celebrate the unique heritage of Wales." 

Richard Bellamy, head of HLF Wales, said:  “In its heyday, Brymbo was at the centre of Britain’s engineering prowess. 

“Its coal was medal winning and its iron and steel fuelled the expansion of steam and the railways. 

“This project will regenerate Brymbo’s historic buildings and boost the local economy but it will also revive this powerful story and a sense of local pride in what was achieved here.”