A major £6.93m conservation and improvement scheme at Taunton Castle in Somerset has been handed a funding boost by Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society (SANHS).

The £35,000 SANHS donation will be used to fund repair work at the castle, as well as the creation of new gallery spaces as part of the new Museum of Somerset attraction, which will house collections owned by the society. Bridgwater-based developer Henry W Polland and Son has been appointed to undertake the restoration of the castle, which will include a new welcome building, a learning centre and a café.

Architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, exhibition designers Event Communications and engineers King Shaw Associates are also involved with the scheme, which aims to open up more than 50 per cent of the castle building to the public when completed by early 2011. The Museum of Somerset Project has also received a £4.8m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund in March 2008 for the development of the new museum at Taunton Castle, which was originally acquired by SANHS in 1874 and been leased back to Somerset County Council since 1958.