A visitor centre will be built in Blaenavon

A Heritage Lottery award of more than �1m means a visitor centre in Blaenavon will be built over the next two years.

It is expected to attract more than 15,000 visitors a year to capitalise on the former ironworks and mining town being awarded the heritage title.

It is more than two years since Blaenavon and the surrounding countryside won World Heritage status.

The judges ranked the area alongside the Taj Mahal and the Great Barrier Reef after agreeing that it contained rare examples of the UK's industrial heritage.

Big Pit draws tourists to the area

The new grant of nearly �1.2m from the Heritage Lottery fund means that work on the visitor centre, which will be an attraction in its own right, can now get under way.

It will be housed in the derelict 19th Century St Peter's School which has been carefully protected by a huge protective structure.

It is hoped the World Heritage title awarded to Blaenavon will improve the fortunes of the deprived town which suffers from high unemployment.

The town's ironworks were built in 1789 and were followed by the development of the mining industry.

The landscape is considered to be of such historical importance that it was the only UK mainland site to be on Unesco's list for accreditation in 2000.

When the World Heritage Site status was given, it was said it could generate �15m investment for Blaenavon over a period of five years and could bring 250,000 visitors a year.

The ironworks have been carefully preserved with the five furnaces still visible, along with cast houses, a foundry, a water-balance lift, ovens, a coal level and workers' houses.

Mining museum Big Pit is an existing tourist attraction in the area.

Kremlin

The World Heritage Convention protects 730 sites of outstanding universal value around the world.

Its list includes natural wonders, ancient landmarks such as the Great Wall of China and more modern building such as the Kremlin.

In February, plans to introduce a wave of second-hand book shops to Blaenavon were welcomed by local people.

The move is an attempt to boost the economy by creating a "book town" similar to Hay-on-Wye in mid Wales.