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.
Programme
National Lottery Grants for Heritage – £250,000 to £10million
![£260,000 awarded to local heritage projects across Wales The pillbox at Trallwn in Pontypridd](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/pillbox.jpg.webp?itok=gNgbJb6o)
News
£193,502 awarded to local heritage projects across Wales
![Wickham Market community holding up a banner to save The George pub.](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/GWM_7.12.jpg.webp?itok=jXqgYIUm)
News
A new lease of life for Wickham Market’s community pub
Projects
100 Portraits - a living archive of learning disability today
Artists used portraiture to capture a snapshot of the learning disabled community in Scotland during the pandemic.
![Volunteers from the South Riverside Community Development Centre The South Riverside Community Development Centre](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/954%20X%20536%20South%20Riverside%20Community%20Development%20Centre.jpg.webp?itok=q4NIagFc)
News
£300,000 nature funding for under-served communities in Wales
![Jumping for joy at the Green Valley Conservation and Heritage Project Happy volunteers at the Green Valley Conservation and Heritage Project](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/Green%20Valley%20Jump%20954%20x%20536.jpg.webp?itok=1dF6QsWy)
News
South Wales wellbeing garden wins National Lottery award
Projects
People with disabilities tell their stories through photography
A participatory photography project is supporting disabled people and those from socially deprived areas to engage with their local and national heritage.
![A young child watering a garden](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/filip-urban-ffJ8Qa0VQU0-unsplash-954.jpg.webp?itok=atn1lf6J)
News
£7million legacy for nature and communities for the Queen’s Jubilee
![Volunteers in ‘The Wilderness’ garden](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/IMG-20201007-WA0000.jpg.webp?itok=PUbErDQI)
Projects
The Wilderness: Saving nature’s heritage to improve wellbeing
Despite challenges during the pandemic, The Wilderness project shows how older people’s wellbeing can be improved by actively restoring and engaging with natural heritage.
![Steam train with slag heaps in background Steam train with slag heaps](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/Steam%20train%20and%20slag%20heaps%20by%20Chris%20Parry%20954%20x%20536.jpg.webp?itok=YAXIk2vR)
News
Full steam ahead for the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways
Projects
Celebrating our Black heroes: The story of John Richard Archer- Battersea’s First Black Mayor
The Black Heroes Foundation staged a short play at Battersea Arts Centre about John Archer, the first Black Mayor of London, elected in 1913.
![Spotlight to shine again on Leeds’ favourite building Ros Kerslake in Leeds](/sites/default/files/styles/hlf_xlarge/public/media/imgs/ros-kerslake-leeds.jpg.webp?itok=osTZjVOz)
News