Castleton museum announces closure

A museum at Castleton Visitor Centre in Derbyshire is to close after 20 years.

Run by Castleton Historical Society, the attraction has displayed historical items dating back to the Medieval era in a space offered rent-free by the Peak District National Park Authority.

However, the authority is now planning to make the space available commercially to generate more revenue.

The museum will close at the end of December but the society said it had been offered a "modest" display area at the centre plus some storage space.

The society said the announcement came with "great sadness" and it had "negotiated as hard as we could" with the authority to find a solution.

In a statement, the authority said: "For the past 20 years, the authority has covered the costs of running the museum.

"However, in light of an increasingly challenging financial climate, this space now needs to support income generation and mitigate overheads.

"Providing the existing museum space rent-free, which is the equivalent to around 50% of our total retail area, is no longer a viable approach.

"We have worked with Castleton Historical Society to develop a plan that continues to provide a dedicated, rent-free space for their archive and museum display."

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