Work to build a museum of international significance at the Battle of Naseby site in Northamptonshire could start next year.
Historians who have been working on plans to build a £3.5 million museum on the site for a number of years launched their fund-raising campaign this week.
It is hoped that through public donations and grants from organisations such as the National Lottery, they will have secured enough money to start work on the project by the end of 2013.
Naseby expert, Martin Marix Evans, said: “If we’re successful in securing grants, we hope to start on site in late 2013 or early 2014 and we’ll probably be able to open in 2015 or 2016.”
The museum will be spread across several buildings which will each tell a separate piece of the Naseby story.
Displays will include historic items found on the battlefield, examples of weapons and armour from the 17th century and contemporary reports of the battle.
Mr Marix Evans said: “We’ll tell the whole story of the battle, including how people got to Naseby and what they did.
“The idea is to create a building that our ancestors could walk into and feel at home, even though it’s going to be a bang up to date, modern building.”
The museum has been designed by architect Jon Courtney-Thompson, who is also a civil war battle re-enactor.
He said: “Naseby is an internationally significant place and everyone is totally committed to the museum. It’s what Naseby deserves and the whole community will benefit from it.”
LATEST research on the Battle of Naseby has revealed the battle was the first in history where nurses were paid to look after casualties.
Documents dating back to the 17th Century have been found at Northampton General Hospital and are now being examined by Naseby experts.
The 1645 battle was the most crucial to be fought in the Civil War and saw Parliament’s New Model Army destroy King Charles I’s army.