The former Aberystwyth lifeboat station in Queen’s Road will be transformed to house some of Ceredigion’s historic archives after a successful funding bid.

Ceredigion Archives have been handed £113,926 to transform the building from the Welsh Government’s Transformation Capital Grant Programme which is supporting museums, archives and libraries across the country.

The station was built in the 1870s to accommodate the town’s lifeboat, and was later used as the BBC broadcasting studio.

It has been used by Ceredigion council for many years for storage.

The next phase of its existence will see it being upgraded for use as a store for some of the county’s historic archives.

Ceredigion Archives, the county record office, is situated nearby in Canolfan Alun R Edwards, the Old Town Hall.

Helen Palmer, county archivist, said: “Since the archives moved in 2012 we have had so many important donations and deposits to the archives that we really need more space to house the collections.

“We were already using the old lifeboat house for non-archival items, so it seemed an excellent opportunity to repurpose a significant and well-loved building as a new store."

The building will be equipped with a system to regulate temperature and humidity to ensure the long-term preservation of manuscripts, and other safeguards will be installed to make sure that the contents of the building are safe and secure.

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