THE last surviving Fleet Street newspaper printing press is to go on display at the Science Museum in Wroughton.

Made by the Wood company, it was installed in Northcliffe House in 1934.

It printed copies of the Daily Mail and the now long-defunct Evening News.

In those days, newspapers were produced by the hot metal method, with pages printed from plates made up of thousands of individual metal letters.

The working life of the machine continued until the late 1980s, when old-style printing technology was overtaken by the electronic and computer revolution.

The museum's curator, Dr John Griffiths, said: "The Wood press is the last hot metal press to survive the break-up of Fleet Street.

"It represents the end of an era that spanned 500 years.

"Its preservation in perpetuity as part of the National Collections of Science and Technology ensures its iconic status.

"We are proud to be involved in such an important acquis-ition."

The Wroughton site, at the former airfield, is used to store objects too bulky for display at the main Science Museum building in London.

Exhibits housed in a series of hangars range from vintage lorries to a huge Constellation airliner.

The Wood press is nine metres tall, 9.5 long, 4.5 wide and weighs 140 tonnes.

Newspapers produced by it during more than half a century of use told of the rise of Nazism in pre-war Germany, the assassination of US President John F Kennedy, the liberation of the Falkland Islands and the development of the technology which would eventually sound the death knell of the machine itself.

Other presses of its kind were dismantled and the parts sold for scrap at the end of their working lives, but the one now in Wroughton was taken to a storage facility in Dartford, Kent.

Transferred to Wroughton in March, it has since undergone thorough restoration and rebuilding.

Details of the museum's opening times and accessibility can be obtained by telephoning Swindon 814466.

The Science Museum's website is at www.sciencemuseum@nmsi.ac.uk.