MORE than £1m is due to be invested in one of the north's most significant World Heritage Sites.

English Heritage is planning to redevelop the Birdoswald Roman Fort site on Hadrian's Wall, near Gilsland.

It said it wants to make more of the visitor experience at the site and has plans for a new museum space, an upgraded education room and toilets, along with a new shop and cafe.

Simon Bean, head of projects and performance north, said: “Over the next 18 months we are significantly investing in the visitor experience here on Hadrian’s Wall.

"This investment reinforces our commitment to bringing the story of England to life at this site of national and global significance.

"In its 30th year of the monument becoming a World Heritage Site, it’s a fitting time to be making this investment.”

More than 30 people, including residents and business owners, heard about the plans at a drop-in session last week.

English Heritage said it was a positive response and that local people were pleased to hear about the investment of £1.2m.

John Scott, World Heritage Site co-ordinator, said: "When you come to Hadrian's Wall, travelling east towards the main section, the first place you come to is Birdoswald.

"People were very intrigued to find out what was happening with what they considered to be a prime gateway site.

"It is really that first international point of contact with Hadrian's Wall once leaving Carlisle."

He explained that all the buildings will be reconfigured and that the architects had looked at the project as a "blank canvass".

Where visitors currently pass through the shop to access the site, it will have a more open feel when the site is revamped.

"It will add a lot to the visitor facilities," said Mr Scott.

Work is expected to start in May and be completed in 10 or 11 months.

Birdoswald will remain open while the works take place.

The site, which attracts nearly 40,000 visitors per year, is popular with walkers and boasts the longest, continuous surviving stretch of Hadrian’s Wall.

The last time any architectural work was done was when the site was still under the care of Cumbria County Council, which acquired it in 1984.

From 1987, English Heritage carried out excavations and in 2004 took over its management but has not done any significant work.

Mr Scott said: "[The work] was ready and it was due.

"It's a welcome refresh of something that's really, really important.

"When you're introducing the idea that Carlisle is a World Heritage city and it sits on the World Heritage Site, which it does, the opportunity to have that stepping stone between, let's say, the views of Housesteads and Steel Rigg, and Carlisle is really important.

"It's a visitor point that's really beneficial to Cumbria. We're ready for it."