Kidderminster's Carpet Museum has been awarded nearly £2m by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) towards plans for the creation of a new attraction at Stour Vale Mill.

The Carpet Museum Trust (CMT) will use the funding to restore the Grade II-listed mill building, which was built during the 19th century and will house a new museum and archives centre. A working power loom is set to form the centrepiece of the museum, which will occupy 14,000sq ft (1,301sq m) of floorspace across two storeys and aims to celebrate the town's carpet making heritage.

The loom will be provided as part of a partnership with Grosvenor Wilton, a commercial carpet making business which formerly used the mill building as part of its premises. In addition to the HLF grant - worth 71 per cent of the total scheme cost, more than £500,000 has been spent by Morrison's to enhance the mill's exterior as part of an adjacent supermarket project.

CMT honorary secretary and trustee Charles Talbot said: "The Stour Vale Mill is an historic building and its use as a museum is most appropriate."