Community heritage
Act for Action CIC, recipients of a community heritage grant from One Knowsley. Photo: Act for Action CIC.
Celebrating community heritage can help people come together, feel pride in where they live and save stories and traditions.
Since 1994 we have awarded £460million to more than 24,100 community and cultural heritage projects across the UK.
What do we support?
We fund projects that are researching, conserving and celebrating the heritage of a community or place.
These projects could include lots of types of heritage, such as people celebrating living customs or improving a historic green space. What's most important is that the project involves and benefits the community.
Project ideas
Our funding could help people:
- research the impact of a historical event on their town, and share their findings through displays, talks and online
- investigate the names on a war memorial
- crowdsource documents and photographs linked to the LGBTQ+ community, creating an online archive and exhibition
- set up an audio trail around a range of buildings, parks and monuments in a town
- enable a youth group to research their local history and create an animated film about their learnings
For more inspiration, see the stories below or browse projects we've funded.
How to get funding
If you have an idea for a project, we would love to hear from you.
Apêl Dengmlwyddiant Montol - un o lwyddiannau’r rhaglen ariannu dorfol
News
Last chance to secure matched funding through UK-wide crowdfunding programme
Pilot crowdfunding partnership programme going UK-wide. Last opportunity to apply for HLF matched funding.
Tywysog Charles yn cwrdd â staff sy’n gweithio yng nghaffi newydd Cornerstone
News
Historic Cardiff landmark to become cornerstone of community activity
A city centre landmark that has for the past 150 years been the focal point of religious, social and architectural heritage in Cardiff is enjoying a new lease of life, thanks to National Lottery players.
Tywysog Charles yn cwrdd â phlant ysgol tuallan i Cornesrstone
News
Historic Cardiff chapel becomes ‘cornerstone’ of community once again
Thanks to a £1.2million grant from National Lottery players, a 150-year-old former chapel in the centre of Cardiff has been given a new lease of life.
John Wiltshire siec am £40,500 oddi wrth Gronfa Dreftadaeth y Loteri
News
Mining memories saved thanks to National Lottery surprise
A former North Wales miner learnt his HLF funding bid had been successful.
Yr actor Michael Sheen a Phennaeth Cymru CDL Richard Bellamy
News
Valley’s mining heritage steals the limelight
A new exhibition unveiled this weekend at the South Wales Miners Museum in Port Talbot was visited by locally born Hollywood star Michael Sheen, who went back to his Port Talbot roots to see first hand how the museum is bringing mining history into the 21st century.
Pobl ifanc o Gaerdydd yn gweithio ar brosiect Gwreiddiau Ifanc yn edrych ar dreftadaeth Butetown
News
Learn more about Young Roots with HLF Wales on 14 September
Did you know that HLF support projects specifically for young people? Our Young Roots programme does exactly that!
The Durga idols
News
Communities come together to celebrate Durga Puja
Durga Puja is one of the biggest festivals in India - and now, thanks to National Lottery players, Hindu and non-Hindu communities in south Wales are working together in a £20,000 project, sharing their cultural history to create the festival’s all-important Durga idols.
A Second World War veteran is interviewed
Projects
Keeping Britain Afloat
The memories of Chatham Port Division veterans from the Second World War were recorded and interpreted for future generations.
Rhai o raddedigion y Cynllun Sgiliau Garddwriaeth Treftadaeth
News
Heritage horticulturalists blossom and bloom at Cardiff Flower Show
A group of specialist heritage horticulturalists have now graduated at the RHS Flower Show in Cardiff, having gained a unique qualification partly funded by National Lottery players.
Stories
Changing lives: Bishop Auckland brothers take castle by storm
The Robinson brothers had never visited nearby Auckland Castle until an HLF-supported project saw them step through its doors for the first time.
Profiodd Oasis y Stiwdio Rockfield ym 1995
News
Students 'Roll With It' at Rockfield
Young people are about to look back – but certainly not in anger – as they embark on a new project to uncover some of Wales’s best kept musical secrets.
Recordiodd Oasis eu halbwm "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?" yn Stiwdio Rockfield ym 1995
News
What’s the story, Rockfield glory?
A new project led by local sixth formers is aiming to capture the numerous musical memories of Rockfield Studios in Monmouth.