TWO Bury schemes have hit the jackpot, securing a total of almost £140,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Bury Council will receive £100,000 to unearth the medieval remains of Bury's 15th century castle, a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and a further £39,245 to increase the accessibility to local history photographs using the latest technology.

Town chiefs plan to create a permanent display of the castle's foundations, which are currently buried underneath a car park.

The Castle Street site is expected to become one of the town's top tourist attractions.

work is expected to start in October, and will expose a section of the buttressed wall in the central part of the square. The shape of the original moat will be re-created with 6ft deep excavations and a grassed area sloping down to the foot of the wall, giving an indication of its defensive nature.

Bury Castle is believed to have been built by Sir Thomas Pilkington in 1469, and was destroyed in 1500. Excavation work in 1974 exposed other parts of the ruins, but the site was later covered over.

The estimated cost of the scheme is £360,000, which together with Heritage Lottery cash, has been funded by the Pilsworth Environment Company and Bury Metro.

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