Areas, buildings and monuments

People walking up steps to a castle with turret

Lincoln Castle. Credit: Colin McLean Photography

Safeguarding our historic buildings, monuments and archaeology for future generations.

Since 1994 we have awarded £3.2billion to 10,200 area, historic building and monument projects across the UK.

These projects can help to sustain jobs, support economic growth and protect heritage at risk. They can also bolster local pride, nurture traditional craft skills and help communities enjoy and make use of the places they care about.

What do we support?

Projects we fund include:

investment in places of worship
conservation and repairs to historic buildings and places
finding appropriate new uses for historic buildings
community archaeology projects

Places of worship

Places of worship are among the UK’s oldest and most cherished historic buildings. We want to help congregations become truly resilient and their buildings genuinely sustainable.

Places of worship we fund

Project ideas

Our funding could help people:

repair and transform a historic building at the heart of their community
help volunteers learn building conservation skills
rescue a building on a Buildings at Risk register
undertake a community archaeology project
regenerate a historic town centre or high street
look after and learn about a local war memorial

For more inspiration, see the stories below or browse projects we've funded.

How to get funding

Our National Lottery Grants for Heritage programme is open for applications.

Find out more and apply

Child using a touch screen in an interactive exhibition

News

Cathedrals: bringing the UK’s ancient monuments to life

How National Lottery funding is revitalising visitors’ experiences of cathedrals – inside, outside and online.

04/07/2022

The exterior of a restored victorian bank in Bacup, Lancashire

This Grade II listed former bank in Bacup, Lancashire was restored as a co-working hub and residential apartments

News

Apply for £70,000 grants to support built heritage regeneration organisations

The UK-wide programme will provide funding and support to community-led trusts that save historic buildings and give them a new lease of life to benefit local people.

24/05/2023

Visitors stand on the Hogarth Stair and look up at The Pool of Bethesda painting

Visitors stand in front of The Pool of Bethesda painting. Credit: Matthew Andrews

News

£4.9million to restore the heritage treasures of St Bartholomew’s Hospital

Thanks to the National Lottery funding, the ‘Sharing Historic Barts’ project will address urgent repairs to historic spaces situated in the Grade I listed North Wing of the hospital, including the 18th-century Great Hall. It will also provide a public programme with heritage and wellbeing at its

11/01/2023

Exeter Cathedral has received a £4.3million grant for their 2020s Development Appeal.

News

£5.5million awarded to conserve cathedrals and churches across the UK

From conserving magnificent stained glass windows to creating accessible facilities, these places of worship and community hubs will be thriving again – thanks to National Lottery players.

17/05/2022

Black Head Cliff Castle, one of the 40 Scheduled Monuments sites

News

Cornwall’s historic monuments protected thanks to funding partnership

The investment will help save 40 historic sites across Cornwall, spanning 4,000 years of history.

12/05/2022

Three people standing underneath a big palm tree in a conservatory

Frankie Toner, Policy and Public Affairs Manager at National Lottery Heritage Fund with Simon Milne MBE, Regius Keeper and Emma Lacroix, Director of Development at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Credit: David Cheskin

News

£4million to save Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh's iconic glasshouses

The investment will also help to look after rare, extraordinary plants, encouraging visitors of all ages to care about the environment.

12/04/2022

Saltdean Pool being enjoyed by the community after restoration in 2017

Stories

Restoration begins at iconic 1930s Saltdean Lido

A £7.5million restoration project has begun to bring Saltdean Lido back to its former glory, part-funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Six people posing for a picture in front of a Jazz music archive, including posters and frames

Engagement Manager Dawn Bainbridge (centre) on the job – visiting a jazz archive project

Blogs

Luton: A vibrant, diverse town with a rich heritage identity

Our Engagement Manager for England, Midlands & East, Dawn Bainbridge, tells us about our work and investment into Luton’s heritage – one of our 13 Areas of Focus.

03/05/2022

The Bradford skyline

News

We welcome Bradford as City of Culture 2025

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has announced that Bradford will follow in Coventry’s footsteps to become the UK’s next City of Culture.

01/06/2022

People sitting in a sunny park, near a bandstand

Pearson Park in Kingston upon Hull

Hub

Thriving Places

We are committed to supporting heritage projects that create better places to live, work and visit.

The First Light Pavilion at Jodrell Bank (right had side) with the Lovell telescope in the background (left hand side)

The Lovell Telescope and the First Light Pavilion at Jodrell Bank.

News

Out of this world: Jodrell Bank's First Light Pavilion set to open

The First Light Pavilion at Jodrell Bank opens this Saturday thanks to £12.5million raised by National Lottery players – the state-of-the-art attraction is a must-see for 2022.

31/05/2022

Musicians playing Latin American folk music

Programme

National Lottery Grants for Heritage – £3,000 to £10,000

A funding programme for projects that connect people and communities to the national, regional and local heritage of the UK. Made possible thanks to National Lottery players. Grants available from £3,000 to £10,000.

A photo taken through a keyhole of a prisoner in a cell, wearing striped black and white clothing.

The museum offers insight into the experiences of prisoners from Victorian times to the modern day. Photo: West Midlands Police Museum.

Projects

The Lock-Up: Unlocking History at West Midlands Police Museum

Our funding has enabled the museum to move into a Victorian custody block, the last of its kind in the country.

27/02/2018

A group of children leading on a piece of wood attached to a windmill.

Bourn Mill. Image: Matthew Power Photography.

News

National Lottery support saving at-risk heritage sites for 25 years

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register. Over the past quarter of a century, Heritage Fund support has helped save some of the nation's most-loved heritage from the list.

09/11/2023

People look at stalls at a craft fair inside St Peter's Sudbury

A craft fair at St Peter's. Photo: Allison Burke.

Projects

Regenerating St Peter’s as a cultural hub for Sudbury

St Peter’s Cultural Venue is being transformed into a new arts, heritage and learning space at the heart of Sudbury, Suffolk.

15/03/2018

A flying bat in the roof space of a church

A Natterer's bat flying inside the roof of St Lawrence church, Radstone. Credit: Chris Damant, Bernwood Ecology.

Stories

All creatures great and small: helping church communities care for their bats

The Bats in Churches project helped over 100 ancient churches in England with their resident bats, bringing communities together and learning more about our threatened bat species.

Group of people wearing hard hats in a courtyard of historic building, Alice Billings House in Stratford

Alice Billings House. Includes Newham’s Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz, Taryn Nixon and Selina Papa from the Heritage Fund, Creative Land Trust and Purcell’s team.

News

£800,000 funding awarded to support Newham’s heritage

From restoring an 1880s playhouse to creating a cycling heritage trail, projects across Newham will celebrate its diverse community heritage and create pride in place.

25/10/2023

Alice Billings House before the project starts.

Projects

Creating Futures at Alice Billings House

After being vacant for over 10 years, Creative Land Trust has acquired the buildings and will bring them back to life with the help of heritage architects Purcell.

12/09/2023

The exterior of a historic building with scaffolding on it.

Work underway at Priory House. Photo: Dunstable Town Council.

Projects

Priory House, Dunstable - Repair and Conservation

Together with Historic England, we are supporting the repair and restoration of the Grade II* listed Priory House in Dunstable.

14/09/2023

A visitor listens through an exhibition headset in front of a display of information about faith

The Faith Museum, Bishop Auckland.

Projects

Restoring and reinterpreting Auckland Castle

This bold heritage-led regeneration project aims to create inspiring experiences and learnings on faith for visitors to County Durham.

23/04/2013

A group of children and adults sit and stand as they pose for a photo while cutting a ribbon.

Local children joined National Galleries of Scotland for the opening of the new Scottish galleries at the National. Credit Neil Hanna

Projects

Celebrating Scotland’s Art: The Scottish National Gallery Project

10 accessible gallery spaces boasting the work of pioneering Scottish artists have transformed visitors’ experience of the national collection.

24/03/2015

An adult talks to a child wearing a head scarf.

Learning Through Landscapes delivered the My School My Planet project. Photo: Simon Hadley.

Blogs

How Walsall’s heritage is thriving

Our Engagement Manager, Natalie Osborne, shares the successful heritage work of Walsall – one of our 13 Areas of Focus.

28/09/2023

An aerial view of St. Conan's Kirk in Scotland.

St. Conan's Kirk, Argyll, Scotland Photo: Andrew Prins

News

£12.2million investment to help save UK’s historic buildings

From the only thatched ice house of its kind to the oldest picture house in Northern Ireland, we have awarded 12 heritage buildings life-saving support.

26/09/2023