Sheffield Cathedral, at the heart of the city, and Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, a former 18th-century steel works near Dore, South West Sheffield - both Grade I listed - will benefit from major works to improve the sites for visitors and transform them into star attractions in the city.

Fiona Spiers, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund Yorkshire and the Humber, said: "This investment is fantastic news for Sheffield, as we see two of the city’s much loved heritage sites awarded funding to improve their visitor experience and bring them alive for the next generation. A stunning cathedral, dating back to 1430, and an 18th-century steelworks, a rare time capsule from a bygone industrial age, will now offer exciting opportunities for people of all ages to get involved in the heritage on their doorstep."

Sheffield Cathedral Place for All People Project: £1.3million confirmed Heritage Lottery Fund award

Sheffield Cathedral is a place for all people. The project will see this historic building, the oldest in the city, transformed to create a bright and welcoming space that is accessible for all whether that be to pray, learn, or be entertained.

Major improvement works, designed to open up the Grade I listed cathedral and its heritage at the very heart of Sheffield, will see the 1960s Narthex (main entrance) glazed in and a new entrance created to ensure level access for everyone to new learning and exhibition spaces inside the cathedral. The grant will also enable an expansion of the cathedral's learning activities programme for children and adults, training for staff and volunteers, a comprehensive new lighting system, and new signage and historical interpretation put in place.

Established for hundreds of years as a centre of worship and community, Sheffield Cathedral was elevated in status when the diocese was created in 1914. Its architecture and significant collections, particularly in carving and sculpture which have international importance, now reveal a rich history. The cathedral is a particularly precious resource on the history of women, both Sheffield and Yorkshire. Once inside, visitors will find Tudor tombs and brasses, important sculptures from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, and woodwork and glass from the 19th and 20th centuries. Other medieval gems include the Shrewsbury Chapel roof, the last carved Tudor example on the British Isles, and the breathtaking tombs of the Earls of Shrewsbury, one of whom was jailer to Mary, Queen of Scots and married to Bess of Hardwick.

The project is one of three initiatives being led by the Cathedral Chapter under the banner The Gateway Project to create a prayerful, visionary and flexible place which serves the region and diocese and which is fully accessible to all. Dean Peter Bradley explains more: "Sheffield Cathedral has worked for many years to become a 'place for all people'. This significant HLF grant will now make it possible for that vision to become a reality. The grant will be used to build a thrilling new entrance, full of light, so that it is much easier to come into the building. Just as importantly, working with the HLF and our other partners, we will now be able to develop many new ways for visitors, especially young people, to access, understand and enjoy our common heritage."

Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet – A Working and Sustainable Future: £895,700 confirmed Heritage Lottery Fund award

Lying due south west of the city on the River Sheaf, Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, formerly known as the Abbeydale Works, dates back to at least the 13th century. A former water-powered industrial works developed for the manufacture of steel (in particular scythe making) from raw materials to the finished product, the site features many listed 18th and 19th-century buildings and was in use until the 1930s.

Now a Scheduled Ancient Monument, the site is remarkably complete, and offers visitors a fascinating glimpse into a bygone industrial age. Featuring the only intact crucible steel furnace surviving in the world today, together with countless other attractions including a tilt forge, grinding hull, hand forges, warehouse, counting and coach Houses and former workers cottages, this special historic place is a true time capsule of technologies, processes of manufacture, domestic life and social conditions at an industrial works of this period.

Managed by the Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust (SIMT) since 1998, Grade I listed Abbeydale is a popular heritage attraction in South Yorkshire drawing around 30,000 visitors a year. HLF funds will now mean that the delicate waterwheels and machinery will be saved, restored and brought back into working order, with a vision to turn the site into a centre for waterpower expertise. A new heritage and learning centre will be built with new interpretation for visitors and training programmes for volunteers encouraging the local community to engage in and preserve traditional millwright skills for future generations.

John Hamshere, Chief Executive of SIMT, said: "This is great news and we are delighted the bid has been successful. Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet is a place of outstanding historical significance and the funding will allow us to preserve the site and help safeguard its future. It will enable us to make fundamental changes to the way people can enjoy and engage with the site and allow us to build a team that is experienced in heritage skills and can provide a sustainable solution to maintaining the site's working machinery in the future."

Notes to editors

A confirmed award means that money had already been earmarked by HLF for the project in question and that the full amount has now been secured.

The HLF grant to the project, The Sheffield Cathedral Place for All People Project, is for £1,337,600 (60% of project costs) and is a second-round pass, which means it is a confirmed award.

The HLF grant to the project, Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet – A Working and Sustainable Future, is for £895,700 (90% of project costs) and is a second-round pass, which means it is a confirmed award.

For more information about the Place for All People Project and The Gateway Project please view the Gateway Project pages on Sheffield Cathedral's website.

For more information about visiting Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, please see the Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet website.

Further information

HLF Press Office: Vicky Wilford, 020 7591 6046 / 07973 401 937, email: vickyw@hlf.org.uk
Sheffield Cathedral: Simon Cowling on 07534 653 333
Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet: Nichola Atherton at Ruby Slippers on 07855 745 521