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New £4.5 million visitor centre opens at Creswell Crags
IT may have been around for millions of years, but Creswell Crags has often remained something of a mystery to generations of local people.
But all that has changed, thanks to a 14 million investment in the site to make it more visitor-friendly than it has ever been before.
Around 4.5 million of the cash has paid for a brand new on-site museum and education centre – a magnificent building created to help people to take a look at and even change their established view of pre-history in the UK.
And now, with the building work completed the move into the new premises has finally begun
Anticipating the event, site manager Nigel Mills had said that pre-history had always started with the Romans, taken a brief look at Stonehenge and that was about it.
"But at Creswell there's always been much more," he said.
"However, lack of investment and modernisation at the original visitor centre had severely limited its ability to live up to its reputation as one of Britain's top heritage sites."
Up to now, experts have agreed that Britain has long lacked a focal place where people from all over the world can learn about the Ice Age.
But not any more with the new heritage centre, which is operating in partnership with the British Museum, about to open its doors to the public.
"Over a period of time, the new museum will be displaying some of the most exciting Ice Age artefacts ever found locally," said the site's heritage officer Rebecca Clay.
"And our major partner, the British Museum, will be loaning other artefacts for display as part of a rolling programme of temporary exhibitions."
The first one features an animal rib engraved with a horse's head, which was discovered during the 1870s – the first example of Ice Age art ever found in Britain.
Staff at the centre are celebrating the spirit of the place by providing a range of activities. They say there is something for all ages at Creswell Crags as well as the ever popular cave tours."
The new building also houses education rooms and provides a venue for a series of lectures throughout the year.
Experts agree that the people who lived in the Creswell area all those years ago were remarkably sophisticated.
"They faced the same kinds of problems associated with environmental change as our generation does nowadays," said Rebecca.
Humans, as our generations have have understood them, first started living at Creswell 40 to 50 thousand years ago.
They were Neanderthals and they lived in dwellings which have since been given names by Victorian explorers such as Mother Gruddy's Parlour, Church Hole, Pin Hole and Robin Hood's Cave.
In recent times, facilites at the Crags have started to improve considerably.
Visitors strolling around the lake can read information boards, or follow the young traveller's tour.
The site and the many artefacts discovered in the area have reinforced the belief in the importance of the area. But there is still a lot more to be done.
Six years ago, the site hit the headlines when what was considered one of the most important prehistoric finds in the last decade came to light at the Crags.
Britain’s earliest example of cave art, which at 13,000 years depicted figures of birds, deer, bison and horse and archeological finds from 10,000 to 50,000 years have also been discovered.
These include flint and stone tools and carvings, proving that Ice Age hunters visited the site to hunt.
The project to improve conservation and management issues at Creswell Crags got under way around 10 years ago.
It entailed several aspects such as removing, landscaping and re-locating to create an events space, an outdoor classroom, an interpretation point and picnic areas plus major improvements to both access and facilites at a cost of 4.2 million.
Other improvements include the relocation of the B6042 road at a cost of 1.2 million and the restoration of the valley with the support of Derbyshire County Council, Lafarge Aggregates and the East Midlands Development Agency and improvements to the main caves including, a protective roof to the Arch Cave, new steps to Pin Hole and Church Hole Caves as well as a brand new interior viewing platform and new steps to the Robin Hood Cave.
And as staff carry out the move to the new centre, new homes are wanted for the develpment’s longest repeat visitors, a colony of bats.
“Creswell Crags is proud to play host to a variety of these rare and protected creatures,” said Rebecca.
“At the last count, nine of the 16 species were using the site for their nursery roosts.”
“We are hoping the new facility will continue to be used by the existing colony and that other species will be attracted to the area.”
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Friday 10 February 2012
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