Community heritage
![Visiting the 1950s hairdresser at Beamish Museum. Credit: Nigel Roddis The interior of a 1950s hairdresser's shop. A visitor is having their hair styled by a stylist in vintage clothing. A child sits in a high chair next to the visitor.](/sites/default/files/styles/main_image_desktop/public/media/imgs/Visiting%20the%201950s%20hairdresser%20at%20Beamish%20Museum%20credit%20Nigel%20Roddis%202.jpg.webp?itok=9ra5SSfo)
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.
![Visiting work commencing at Alice Billings House. Group of people wearing hard hats in a courtyard of historic building, Alice Billings House in Stratford](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/091_alice_billings_nlhf_231017_abk.jpg.webp?itok=Tg5Gcr3e)
News
£800,000 funding awarded to support Newham’s heritage
![Arthur Wharton. Head and shoulders of Arthur Wharton](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/arthur-wharton-foundation.jpg.webp?itok=-N1wYS1Q)
Projects
Arthur Wharton: the world’s first black professional footballer and sprint champion
A new short film will share the story of the world’s first black professional footballer and the first official fastest man on the planet.
Projects
Without Fear Again: Remembering the brave men of Bo'ness
The names of the individuals on the Bo'ness War Memorial will be brought to life through the memories of the town's community.
![A group of children posing for a photograph, some holding family objects](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/cocorico_workshop_participants_web_size.jpg.webp?itok=u8ctfGNw)
Stories
Cocorico! Exploring the heritage in our homes
![An adult talks to a child wearing a head scarf.](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/learning_through_landscapes_walsall_smaller.jpg.webp?itok=vjRwClpH)
Blogs
How Walsall’s heritage is thriving
News
£12.2million investment to help save UK’s historic buildings
Stories
Cleveland Pools opens for swimming after 40 years
![A large group of people sitting on a roundabout all holding flags for different countries of the world](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/oneyoungworld_flags2-1200.jpg.webp?itok=CjTSAwpM)
News
Applications open for One Young World Heritage Fund scholarships
Projects
Forgotten Faces of the First World War: The Chinese Labour Corps
The Meridian Society and documentary filmmaker Peng Wenlan collected oral histories for a documentary about the Chinese men who worked as labourers on the Western Front during the First World War.
Projects
Cambodian Recollections
Cambodian people living in the UK shared their memories of their experiences under the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime in this oral history project.
![Two people from the City Stories project](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/lens_lab_city_stories_1.jpg.webp?itok=3sDzprMU)
Stories
Seven projects to connect communities to local heritage
Projects
Kimjang, Making and Sharing Kimchi
The practices of a UNESCO-recognised Korean tradition were recorded and preserved for the future and celebrated with the wider community.