The Herstmonceux Observatory near Hailsham is to receive almost £800,000 of National Lottery funds to restore its giant telescopes and open them to the public.

The observatory was built to house the Royal Greenwich Observatory when it left London in 1957.

But its six massive telescope domes fell into disuse when the astronomers moved to a new headquarters in Cambridge in 1990.

The site has been run as a hands-on science centre for the last six years by science displays company Science Projects, which made the Lottery bid.

Science Projects director Stephen Pizzey said: "The grant will allow us to incorporate unobtrusive modern control equipment and cameras on the telescopes to make it easier for public viewing and to allow real scientific use by university groups as well as amateur astronomy clubs."

TV astronomer Sir Patrick Moore has used the copper-clad domes and is supporting the project. A new interpretation centre in one of the domes will bear his name.

He said: "I am delighted that the Herstmonceux Observatory has been saved for science."

The observatory's domes were used to discover one of the moons orbiting Jupiter, and to study black holes.

The observatory was also responsible for providing the six pips which formed the Greenwich Mean Time hourly signal.