EUROPE’s most excavated monastic site has won small visitor attraction of the year at the Marketing Cheshire Awards.

Runcorn’s newly-refurbished Norton Priory museum re-opened in August and welcomed more than 10,000 visitors in its first month.

The accolade recognises and celebrates the achievements of businesses and individuals working in Cheshire’s visitor economy.

Norton Priory will now be put forward to the national VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2017.

Museum director Frank Hargrave said: “We are absolutely delighted with the award that acknowledges a lot of hard work by the staff, our volunteers and trustees together with our partners over many years. “However, the reopening of the museum and this award is not the end of our journey.

“We look forward to new initiatives in 2017, improvements in access to the new museum, national loans and of course the ongoing popular family events programme.”

Staff attended a gala dinner at Chester Racecourse on November 24 where more than 30 finalists competed for honours.

In 2014 Norton Priory was awarded a £3.9m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund as well as support from Halton Council, The Wellcome Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation, Foyle Foundation, Arts Council England, The Wolfson Foundation, WREN, The Granada Foundation, The Pilgrim Trust and private donors to redevelop the museum and restore the 12th century undercroft and its Victorian decorative tiled floor.