Also known as intangible cultural heritage, living heritage is the knowledge, customs, practices and crafts passed down to us through generations.

The UK’s new Inventories of Living Heritage will offer an official record of the breadth of intangible cultural heritage being practiced across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The inventories aim to raise awareness of the crafts, customs and celebrations that are valued across the UK and help protect them for future generations. They follow the UK joining UNESCO's Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2024.

Submissions to the inventories are encouraged from communities and groups practising living heritage, including traditions originating outside the UK.

What can be included?

The inventories will be made up of seven categories:

• crafts
• culinary practices
• nature, land and spirituality
• oral expressions
• performing arts
• social practices
• sports and games

Since 1994 we’ve invested over £480million in more than 24,500 projects exploring the traditions, customs, skills and knowledge of communities across the UK.

From playing shinty in the Scottish Highlands to crafting Cornish hedges, here are some examples of projects we’ve funded across each of the seven categories.

Crafts

Kerdroya: the Living Lexicon of Cornish Hedging helped safeguard the craft of building Cornish hedges – an ancient boundary structure formed from grass-topped earth, sandwiched between two stone walls. Alongside training new hedgers, the project showcased the craft by building a labyrinth featuring 12 styles of Cornish hedging.

Culinary practices

You, Me & Tea explored the industrial and cultural heritage of tea drinking in Northern Ireland and its connections with India and China. Over tea ceremonies, in workshops and on tours, participants discussed the role tea has played in history and their own lives.

Nature, land and spirituality

Stars and their Consolations / Sêr a'u Cysuron is sharing the heritage of Welsh and Greek stories of stars and constellations. It’s using oral storytelling to explore the role of the night skies in Wales’ folklore, landscape and seasonal traditions and to raise awareness of the effect of light pollution on the natural world.

Oral expressions

Fumbo is recording and preserving spoken traditions of naming and family sayings in Manchester’s African diaspora communities. The project is training volunteers in oral history to collect and share stories and knowledge about the meaning of names from elders in the community.

Performing arts

Wieśniacy Polish Folk Song and Dance celebrated the heritage of a Birmingham-based dance ensemble which has been performing for over 75 years. The group held workshops and a concert where participants learnt about the heritage, culture and folklore of Polish dance and song in the UK.

Social practices

Hawick in Common is using film and community research to investigate the heritage of the town’s Common Riding – an annual festival held across the Scottish Borders where participants ride horses around a town’s boundaries to commemorate riders who protected communities from raids in the 13th–15th centuries. 

Sports and games

Shinty’s Story – Sgeul na Camanachd is creating the first permanent exhibition on Scotland’s oldest team sport, which is played with sticks and a ball. Through interactive displays and community events, the project will celebrate shinty’s history, explore its role in Gaelic culture and attract new players to the game. 

Nominate your heritage

The call for submissions will be open until Friday 27 March. Find out how to nominate a tradition to be included on the inventories or explore more examples of intangible cultural heritage we’ve supported.