Plans revealed for revamp of Sandwell museum

Heritage bosses want to uncover the Manor House Museum's hidden gems which have been covered up through the decades.

They expect to spend between £2.5m and £2.75m on restoration work and will be submitting a bid for lottery funding.

The Manor House in Hall Green Road is said to be one of the most important surviving medieval timber-framed buildings in the Midlands.

It was originally built by Richard de Marnham in the 1270s but in more recent times it has had several uses including as a tenement building and for people to live in and, following restoration in the 1950s, It was leased by Ansells Brewery in 1961 and run as a pub and restaurant.

It opened as a visitor attraction run by Sandwell Council's museum service in 2010.

Detailed plans for the restoration work are currently being drawn up ahead of the lottery funding application being lodged later this year.

Sandwell museums manager Frank Caldwell said that some of the original features that have been lost during alterations made to the building over the decades will be restored. This is includes a priest hole which was converted into staff toilets for the restaurant.

"We are looking to remove the alterations which were not done very sensitively in the 1960s. The people of West Bromwich are very fortunate to have this wonderful house on their doorstep and we want to show it off the best we can.

"We are working to submit a lottery bid towards the end of the year. We expecting that to get the house into a good state we will need between £2.5m and £2.75million," he added.

Staff are aiming to create a special archive celebrating the 800-year-old site and have appealed for people's memories of the site.

Meanwhile work is poised to start on a £125,000 project to restore the rare viewing tower at the 500-year-old Oak House in West Bromwich.

Major repairs are needed to repair the crumbling belvedere at the Grade II-listed Tudor house.

Sandwell Council is in the process of appointing a contractor with work expected to start within weeks.

Work is needed to repair the tower's timber structure and the exterior wall panels, which have been rapidly deteriorating.

The tower at the Oak House was built around 1650-1660 and had floors, which were removed at the end of the 19th century to create exhibition galleries as the property was converted into a museum.