MURALS showing folklore tales from Huddersfield are returning to a place of honour in the town's main library.

They will be the visual centrepiece in the local history section when its refurbishment is completed next June.

The five Napier murals - named after artist Charles Reginald Napier - were taken down during building work 20 years ago and never put back up.

Now they are to go on show again, despite plans which could result in the library and art gallery building being demolished.

Clr John Smithson, deputy leader of Kirklees Council, said it showed there was still a commitment to improving library attractions.

He said: "The murals were removed during building work in the early 1980s and were not replaced because, as a result of the work, they could no longer be displayed as originally intended.

"While the murals were put into store they were not forgotten by library staff.

"When plans for refurbishing the local history library were mooted several years ago it was seen as just the place to display the Napier murals."

Refurbishment plans include a new counter in April, complete redecoration in May and the long-awaited hanging of the mural paintings in June.

The paintings were given a new lease of life and were restored four years ago with a grant from the Yorkshire and Humberside Museum Council.

They were the result of a commission in the late 1930s awarded to Napier, who taught at the Huddersfield School of Art.

He, with six students, took four years to complete them at a cost of £50 to the council.

The main work, The Telling of the Stories, and the other paintings - showing the stories of the Marsden Cuckoo, the Scapegoat Hill Band, the Linthwaite Leadboilers and the Slawit Moonrakers - were displayed in the children's library for a long time.

Since restoration all five Napier murals have been the subject of an exhibition at Huddersfield Art Gallery.

The Marsden Cuckoo has been on display for a time at the Mechanics' Institute in Marsden while The Telling of the Stories has been loaned to the Museum of Childhood in Dewsbury.

But once work has been completed in the local history library, they will all be back together, as originally intended, on permanent display.

Clr Smithson confirmed a feasibility study on the library building would be completed by next spring.

It will be followed by wide consultation on its future.