St Fagans National History Museum in Wales has been awarded £1 million in funding to carry out essential maintenance works in preparation for a wider redevelopment of the site.

Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones has pledged the cash injection for the open-air museum near Cardiff to lay the foundations for new long-term plans to unify the history of Wales from the Stone Age through to the Industrial era in one location.

The £1 million funding to upgrade electrical and water capacity among other modernisations is in addition to a £500,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) in March.

The ten-year, £20 million plans to improve the museum involve upgrading existing galleries, creating new indoor space and moving the archaeology collection from the National Museum in Cathays Park to St Fagans.

At the time of the HLF award, Cardiff West's Kevin Brennan MP said a reopening of St Fagan's railway station may be on the agenda in order to help bring more than one million people a year to the museum.

He said: "St Fagan's brings so much to Wales both in presenting Wales to visitors from outside but also as a wonderful day out. The long term future of St Fagans would be secured by this expansion project."

Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones said: "We are keen to ensure that St Fagan's maintains its position at the heart of Welsh cultural life and its status as Wales' premier free tourist attraction."

"It is vital that this much cherished national institution is upgraded and improved in order to present a modern, confident and diverse image of Wales to visitors."

The museum sits in the grounds St Fagans Castle, a late 16th-century manor house set in 100 acres of parkland. This month, St Fagans was voted as one of the best free attractions in Britain by users of the world’s largest travel site TripAdvisor.

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