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Community heritage

Celebrating our community heritage can help bring people together, feel pride in where they live and save stories and traditions.

Thanks to National Lottery players, since 1994 we have awarded over £500m to 26,700 community and cultural heritage projects across the UK.

What do we support?

We help people who are researching and sharing the history of a community or of a place.

We also fund projects which combine different types of heritage in a particular location.

Project ideas

Our funding could help people:

  • research the impact of a historical event on their town. They could then share their findings through displays, talks and online
  • investigate the names on a war memorial
  • crowdsource documents and photographs linked to the LGBT+ 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

How to get funding

Find out about the funding options available.

Three people look down over a valley with mountains in the distance
Braemar view. Credit: Cameron Cosgrove

Projects

Cairngorms 2030: people and nature thriving together

We have awarded nearly £12.5million to a life-changing project aiming to preserve the UK’s biggest National Park, bringing communities together to help nature and improve wellbeing.

Ferry Meadows Country Park

News

£6.5million for heritage projects in Staffordshire, Peterborough and Dudley

The projects aim to preserve key heritage sites, and will benefit a diverse range of people – from the church community to the locals of Stafford town centre. History at the Heart of Community Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Archives is receiving £3,964,000 for the History at the Heart of Community