The historic dockyard of Royal Pembroke Dock will be digitally re-created thanks to academics and Heritage Lottery cash.

Academics from De Montfort University in Leicester have been given funding to work with Pembroke Dock historians.

They will produce a 3D digital reconstruction of the former Royal Dockyard and models of what the earliest streets in the town looked like.

People will be able to go online and 'see' the model and take a virtual tour. Information will accompany each image on how and why each building was built, the identities and stories of the occupants.

It is hoped the project will help reveal the human stories of the founding days of Pembroke Dock and is timed to be finished in time for the town's 200th anniversary next year.

De Montfort University's digital building heritage team will use the latest technology including 3D laser scanning and virtual reality simulation, to help 'bring back' virtual versions of forgotten or ruined buildings as part of the project. Pembroke Dock is one of 11 digital restoration schemes funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund's All Our Stories programme. Heritage groups bid for funding projects to further their understanding of their community's past.

Dr. Douglas Cawthorne, of the DBH team, said: "It's great news that we have been awarded the second round of funding, especially the full amount. It promises to be hugely interesting from a research point of view - although it's a lot of work!

"These projects are really about the heritage groups, helping the community understand their heritage, and we are happy to be able to help do that."

Between its founding in 1814 and closure in 1925, there were five royal yachts built and 263 other Royal Navy vessels at the docks.