THE £5.7m Whitby headland project draws to a close on Easter Saturday with the opening of a magnificent new visitor centre created inside the ruins of a 17th century mansion, nestling in the shadow of Whitby Abbey.

To be called Cholmley's House, the project has created a modern building within the mansion's 300 year-old walls, retaining the faded splendour of its external appearance. Inside, computerised displays and previously unseen artefacts excavated from the headland will provide a vivid insight into Whitby's rich history. Visitors can also follow the original 17th century route into the house through a unique "hard garden" discovered in 1997 and now restored to its former glory.

The project has cleared away 20th century clutter from the headland, re-instating the natural landscape, providing a new visitor centre and opening up breathtaking views not seen for 200 years.

David Fraser, English Heritage regional director for Yorkshire, said: "Although enjoyed by many thousands of visitors each year, the headland's potential has been blighted by unsightly facilities, inadequate interpretation and intrusive traffic.

"The new visitor centre and the improvements to Abbey Plain will give everyone a much more enjoyable and rewarding experience when they visit Whitby's dramatic and historic headland."

Set dramatically on a headland projecting into the North Sea, the magnificent ruins of Whitby Abbey, now in the care of English Heritage, are a monument to one of the most remarkable and venerable religious foundations of medieval England.

Founded in AD657, by the great Northumbrian king, Oswy, the monastery flourished under the rule of St. Hild. It was here that the Synod of Whitby of AD664 decided to adopt the Roman rather than the Celtic method of calculating the date of Easter and determined the pattern of the religious calendar.

The new visitor centre has ingeniously been placed discreetly behind the fine classical facade of the mansion house which was built by the Cholmley family in the late 17th century at the then vast sum of £232,000.

Designed by the architects, Stanton Williams, the new structure makes a dynamic contrast between old and new. In a sensitive and complex construction, galleries and a shop have been integrated into two floors within the remains of the ruined but once magnificent home of the Cholmley family.

The interpretation in the two-storey visitor centre combines the best of modern technology with displays of artefacts ex-cavated from the headland. On the first floor, large screen shows will bring to life Whitby's rich history from the Anglo-Saxon period to the 20th century in a series of computergenerated videos.

Rare and nearly completely intact, the 17th century cobbled garden courts were discovered beneath a lawn in front of Cholmley's House during archaeological excavations in 1997. Made of cobbles, pebbles and stones collected from the seashore, they were laid out in a decorative pattern to complement Cholmley's new house completed in 1672.

From Easter, visitors arriving at Whitby Abbey via the "199 steps" from Whitby town can enter Cholmley's House following the route around the courts which would have been taken in the 17th century.

The four year-project has been achieved by a joint partnership between English Heritage, Scarborough Borough Council and the Strickland Estate with funding contributions from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the European Regional Development Fund as part of its Regional Challenge. The LJ and Mary Skaggs Foundation made a contribution to the interpretation in Cholmley's House.

The new visitor centre will open at 2pm on Saturday, March 30, and then daily from 10am-6pm until September 30; 10am-5pm October 2 and 10am-4pm November-March 31 2003. Closed December 24, 25, 26 and January 1. Admission adults £3.60, concessions £2.70 children £1.80, family £9.00 (2 adults and up to 4 children).

Updated: 10:25 Thursday, March 28, 2002