The centre will open up the collections to the public

The funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) will be used by the Beamish museum and Tyne & Wear Museums.

It will mean the Regional Resource Centre at Beamish, the North of England Open Air Museum, in County Durham, will be extended.

It will provide a home for items identified as seriously at risk.

Beamish director Miriam Harte said: "The Regional Resource Centre is an invaluable asset to Beamish and the people of the North East.

Preserve heritage

"The state of the art storage facilities and accessibility of the collections are second to none.

"The HLF grant for an extension of these facilities will ensure that even more of the region's treasures are preserved for future generations."

The fryer was used in a fish and chip shop in Prudhoe, Northumberland, for around 70 years and since then has been kept in storage.

The new centre will mean schools and other groups will have access to the collections.

The project is the second phase of the scheme. The first phase opened in 2001 after the HLF supported the construction of the Regional Resource Centre to house the Beamish core collections and photographic archive.

Tyne & Wear Museums director Alec Coles said: "Once again we are grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund for helping us preserve the North East's heritage."