MORE than 600 people had a first glimpse of Amesbury’s new museum and visitor centre over the Easter weekend.

The tourists and local people visited Melor Hall to see more than 1,000 exhibits relating to the town’s Mesolithic past.

They included flints and Aurochs bones which revealed that Amesbury has been a settlement for more than 8250 years.

Experts in geology and archaeology attended the four open afternoons where talks were given explaining the international significance of the finds around Amesbury. America’s senior cultural attaché Kate Bentley also visited the museum along with Julian Richards from the BBC’s Meet the Ancestor programme and hundreds of tourists who were visiting Salisbury or Stonehenge.

The event was seen as a boost to Amesbury’s bid to become a tourist destination and revitalise the fortunes of the town.

“It was a resounding endorsement for Amesbury’s long overdue museum and a catalyst to put footfall in the town and Amesbury back on the map,” said mayor, Andy Rhind-Tutt.

“We had local people and families who wanted to find out more about their town’s past and also tourists who came along and were very impressed with what they saw.

“We had many positive comments.”

Recent discoveries have revealed that travellers might have been to Amesbury as long ago as 7000 BC and archaeological digs are continuing at Vespasians Camp in the town to unearth more of the area’s historic past.

On Saturday visitors were given the chance to contribute to the town’s mosaic which reflects aspects of Amesbury’s history.

Work is well underway on the mosaic which will be transported to the Cathedral Close and shown to the Queen when she visits Salisbury next month.

The museum opened after Amesbury Town Council bought the former church hall for £285,000.

It will next be open to the public on the May Bank Holiday weekend when local people will be invited to take along artefacts and information relating to Amesbury’s history.

It is hoped that a purpose built visitor centre can eventually be constructed on the site funded by developer Bloor Homes, if it gets permission to build its new Kings Gate development near Archer’s Gate.