A new visitor attraction in Ludlow has received a lottery boost of nearly £40,000 which will help it to explain a fascinating part of the town’s history.

The £38,400 has been awarded to the Mill on the Green on the Teme bank at Dinham by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The centre, in the shadow of the town’s castle, is nearing completion on the site of the old swimming pool changing rooms. 

The site was once the setting for the town’s most important corn mill and now a new wheel will help supply electricity. 

Paul Nicholls, chairman of the Dinham Millennium Green Trust, said: “We have a big story to tell through educational and interpretive signs including audio aids.

“This lottery windfall will enable us to achieve far more than originally imagined.

“We certainly thank the lottery fund assessors but, equally, the very many people who pitch in to the lottery week after week.” 

Much of Ludlow’s prosperity was built upon industries, most notably cloth fulling, which relied on river power harnessed by water wheels. 

The building will house an electricity-generating wheel as well as viewing facilities, tearooms, craft workshop, offices and meeting room. 

The wheel, which is to be constructed locally, will sit in exactly the position as those which operated from at least the 14th century. 

Mr Nicholls added: “Our expectation is that we shall be up-and-running in spring next year. The development will be known quite simply as the Mill on the Green.” 

It is more than 10 years since volunteers arranged purchase of the old swimming pool site. The Millennium Green has become Ludlow’s best known riverside open air amenity