Cliffe Castle has struck gold thanks to daring salvage diver Keith Jessop.

Keighley "Mr Goldfinder" has offered relics from his famous £44 million dive to the town's museum.

Equipment, memorabilia and photographs will go on show from his 1981 expedition to raise 400 gold bars from the HMS Edinburgh. Although the real gold was handed to the government, the exhibition will include Keith's own full-size replica of the first bar recovered.

Yesterday Bradford council made a top-level pledge to meet Keith and arrange a display of the historic material.

David Kennedy, the assistant chief executive, told the Keighley News that the council was very grateful for the salvage king's "generous" offer.

He added: "People are always interested in gold and I am sure the memorabilia will be of considerable interest to people, not only from Keighley, but across the region." Mr Kennedy's comments marked a U-turn after museum chiefs originally rejected the chance to exhibit the HMS Edinburgh material.

Keith claimed he was told the mementoes did not meet with the council's collections policy because they were not strictly connected with Bradford district.

Keith branded the response "unbelievable" and said the relics should go on show locally because "in a sense they belong to Keighley".

He added: "People would be able to see for themselves what the gold bars looked like and get a feel of what we went through.

"Lots of the items have been in the attic gathering dust when they should be on display. It was good enough for the Imperial War Museum but not for Keighley."

When told of Mr Kennedy's views he said: "That's better. I am delighted to hear it. I believe such a display will bring lots of people to the museum. The Imperial War Museum ,in London, staged an exhibition of Keith's finds soon after his diving team recovered the five-and-a-half-tonne haul from the floor of the Barents Sea.

HMS Edinburgh had lain undisturbed for almost 40 years after being sunk by German destroyers in May 1942, off the northern coast of Russia.

After Keith's firm, Jessop Marine Recoveries, won the salvage contract, he dived to record depths of 800 feet to recover the 400 gold bars. Keith described seeing the first bar of gold from the Edinburgh as "the most thrilling moment of my life".

But his dream turned to a nightmare as he faced several years of tax and legal battles that consumed much of his time and most of his £1.8 million fortune.

In 1984 he was cleared of three charges under the Official Secrets Act, and went on to help retrieve £200 million of gold and silver from a US merchant ship in the 1990s.