A MUSEUM which includes a 229-year-old mill will be reopened following its closure two years ago.

Helmshore Mills Textile Museum will reopen on Saturday on a temporary basis after it was shut in 2016 following budget cuts made by Lancashire County Council’s previous Labour administration.

Earlier this year the new Conservative administration’s cabinet voted to reopen the mill, alongside its sister museums Queen Street Mill in Briercliffe and The Judges Lodgings in Lancaster.

Friends of the Museum member Sue Mathieson, who worked at the museum for seven years, said the decision to close the ‘priceless’ museum’s closure was ‘criminal’.

The 70-year-old said: “I was devastated and felt the closure was criminal because the heritage here was priceless for the children that used to come round. We want people to show their support again this time around.”

The Rossendale museum complex, which shows how cotton was processed when Lancashire was at the centre of the industrial revolution, consists of two mills - the Higher Mill, built in 1789 and Whitaker’s Mill, created in the mid 19th century.

People have previously travelled thousands of miles from Australia, New Zealand and the USA to the Holcombe Road museum to learn about the history of the cotton and wool industry and will again be able look around the museum’s exhibits, including a full size Hargreaves Spinning Jenny, which has 740 spindles, as well as a waterwheel and working looms.

Friends of Helmshore Textiles vice-chair Laura Gill, 41 said the museum was a part of our local community and heritage.”

Museum manager Louise Jacobsson added: “It is a real privilege to reopen Helmshore Textiles Museum to the public.”

The Holcombe Road museum reopen at noon on Saturday and will open every Saturday between 12pm and 4pm until July 27.

From July 27 the museum will open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4pm until October 28, 2018 and between Easter and the end of October 2019.