VISITORS are pouring in to see exhibits and special displays in Chippenham Heritage Centre's £400,000 extension.

The new galleries and the state-of- the-art education centre opened last week, giving residents the chance to see artefacts covering many aspects of the town's history.

The first groups will be using the education centre, formerly a magistrates' court, in about two weeks' time.

Heritage centre manager Mike Stone said the preparations had been stressful for all the staff but he was delighted with the outcome.

"People have told us they think the new galleries are fantastic," he said.

"Phase II has taken about two and a half years to complete, and now after all that time and work we can see it up and running."

The new facilities at the Market Place museum and heritage centre were funded by Chippenham Town Council, the Borough Lands, and Chippenham Rotary Club. The Heritage Lottery Fund also gave £195,000.

Four new galleries have been created on the first floor, as well as extra storage space on the second floor.

The building work and decoration were only a part of the project. Months have been spent in the planning of the displays about diverse aspects of the town's colourful history.

The first new gallery will be used as a temporary exhibition area, with three-monthly displays.

The first exhibition is a collection of Victorian water colour paintings of the Chippenham area by Joliffe.

The room is fitted with special low lighting and window blinds to allow fragile works to be displayed.

The second new gallery is divided in two, with half concentrating on wartime Chippenham, with exhibits from the Civil, Napoleonic and two World Wars.

Finds from excavations of the Englands site are housed in the Civil War cabinet, while a children's display case shows typical objects found in the trenches of the First World War .

A central cabinet contains three mannequins dressed in the uniforms of an air raid warden, the Home Guard and the Women's Land Army.

All the uniforms originally belonged to local people, but more items are needed to complete the display, including two pairs of Army boots and a pair of shoes for the landgirl.

Elsewhere in the gallery a high security case contains the town council's silver, with extra silverware from St Andrew's parish church.

A long connecting gallery contains a detailed, fascinating panorama of High Street and Market Place, with a series of photos, drawings and prints illustrating how the buildings and land use has changed over the years.

Display cases below include goods sold in the shops and finds from excavations in the area.

The end gallery is called Made In Chippenham and investigates much of the town's industrial heritage.

Exhibits include bottles from the brewing and mineral water trade, as well as a beer machine for drawing ale on tap from the former Duke of Cumberland pub.

Watch and clock makers, coopering, the dairy trade, wagon and carriage making, the building trade are all celebrated, with a range of displays and pictures, and there is a special display on the part played by Westinghouse.

A central feature of the gallery will be a scale working model of Chippenham's flour mill, which was demolished in 1957.

Made by Mike Brotherwood, the mill will be installed in the next couple of weeks.

The new facilities will also include a research room, where visitors can view town council archives and the growing photographic and small document collections.

The new education centre, with an office for education officer Jean Harvest, has a projector for video presentations and display cases.

The heritage centre's new galleries will be officially opened on April 1 by the Mayor, Coun Richard Meek.

He said the new development at the Heritage Centre is a fantastic achievement for the town.

"We have now got somewhere we can teach the youngsters about the heritage of the town," he said.

"But adults as well will be able to learn more about what happened in the past. I think it's absolutely fantastic."

ssingleton@newswilts.co.uk