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Areas, buildings and monuments

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
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
Exeter Cathedral
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.
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.
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.
The Bradford skyline
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.
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.
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.

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.
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.
Alice Billings House in Stratford
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.