£19m Postal museum moves closer for Churchward

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A £19m plan for Swindon’s Western Churchward Village has been given a first-round pass by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The British Postal Museum & Archive (BPMA) is planning to develop the Grade II listed Chain Test House, an undeveloped part of the Railway Works.

The first-round pass means that the BPMA can begin the development stage of the project and work up detailed proposals ahead of a round two application in 2011. In a tough funding climate, and against unprecedented competition, the project to move the collections into a new, accessible and permanent home has taken a step closer to becoming a reality.

At its peak in the 1950s, Shop 17 – as it was known – dealt with around 57 miles of chain and rope annually.

The proposed museum will join prominent cultural organisations already based at the historic Churchward Village including English Heritage, National Trust and STEAM.

Adrian Steel, director of the BPMA, said: “The Heritage Lottery Fund money will allow us to embark on the next stage of this exciting project to bring this human story of communication, industry and innovation to everyone.

“The Chain Testing Works in Swindon is an ideal home for our collections and offers an opportunity to restore and reopen this landmark building.”

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AMBITIOUS plans for a £19million postal museum in Swindon have moved one step closer to becoming a reality after being given a first-round pass for a grant of £2.5m from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The Postal Museum and Archive, the store and archive of the Royal Mail, is hoping to develop one of the remaining undeveloped parts of Swindon's Railway Works Conservation Area; the Grade II listed Chain Test House, in Western Churchward Village.

The proposed museum will join prominent cultural organisations already based at the historic Churchward Village including English Heritage, the National Trust and STEAM.

The museum's collection, which includes over 200 letter boxes, postal vehicles and every British stamp issued since the Penny Black, has been in storage since 1998 after the closure of the National Postal Museum near St Paul's Cathedral in London.

Since then, split between the Mount Pleasant mail Centre in London and a museum store in Debden in Essex, the four centuries of postal history has not been comprehensively accessible to the public.

But following a 10 year site search, Swindon was selected as the site for a new, accessible and permanent museum.

Due to open in 2013, the new Postal Museum and Archive will not only bring together the Royal Mail's historic records currently filling 2.5 miles of shelving, but museum objects from the former National Postal Museum as well.