Our funding celebrates the innovative buildings, transport and technology that helped to shape the modern world.
Thanks to National Lottery players, since 1994 we’ve invested more than £520million in thousands of industrial heritage projects across the UK.
We want to help more people conserve their local industrial heritage. Our funding can help pass on to younger generations the skills to look after it.
What do we support?
Projects we fund include:
- printing presses
- pumping engines
- windmills
- historic ships
- locomotives
- natural landscapes transformed by industry
Project ideas
Our funding could help people:
- uncover and record people’s memories of our industrial past
- give a disused site a new purpose
- restore and maintain operating machinery
- reveal the history of industry in your area
- explore the nation's network of canals
- provide staffed visitor facilities and learning resources
- help young people learn new skills and care for their heritage
How to get funding
Find out whether your project is eligible for funding.
News article
River Rother to be reclaimed from industrial blight
Thanks to a National Lottery grant of more than £450,000, two centuries worth of industrialisation are to be reversed around the River Rother in Derbyshire.
News article
National Lottery support keeps memories of Tiger Bay burning bright
Thanks to National Lottery funding, a new project will look at the history of Tiger Bay through the eyes of people who came from across the world to work in Cardiff.
News article
Dunkirk Little Ship to set sail again
A Dunkirk Little Ship that saved 600 lives is itself going to be rescued thanks to National Lottery funding and the passion of a local community group. The restoration project will allow recovering drug addicts to learn new skills by working with a specialist boatbuilding team.
News article
Windermere Jetty opens its doors with help from volunteer John
This weekend Windermere Jetty: Museum of Boats, Steam and Stories opens its doors to the public for the first time ever.
Blog
Diving in to heritage at Pontypridd Lido
Last week the much-loved Pontypridd Lido re-opened after almost a quarter of a century. Our new Head of HLF Wales, Richard Bellamy, explains why its story is so important to him.
News article
All made up and ready to go: site of world’s first factory to be redeveloped
£12million of National Lottery money awarded to Derby Museums for the creation of the 'Museum of the Making'.
Project
Project
News article
Great Light is the latest attraction unveiled in Belfast's Titanic Quarter
Visitors to Belfast’s Titanic Quarter can learn more about lighthouses and their role in the maritime and industrial development of the city, following today’s official opening of The Great Light.
News article
National Lottery Awards shortlist announced. Who gets your vote?
Nominations have been drawn from the past quarter of a century to celebrate The National Lottery’s 25th Birthday.
News article
The first six months: our Strategic Funding Framework
It is six months since we launched our new name, grants structure and Strategic Funding Framework. Here’s what’s happened.
News article
Ways to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing
One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind, and a host of heritage events to celebrate the occasion!
Story
Four artists on how heritage has inspired them
As the Luminary installation opens at the National Lottery-funded Crossness Pumping Station, we spoke to four artists who combine old and new in their work.
News article
Jodrell Bank named as new UNESCO World Heritage Site
Other newly designated World Heritage Sites for 2019 include the Royal Building of Mafra in Portugal and Risco Caido and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria in Spain. Heritage Minister Rebecca Pow said: "I am delighted that Jodrell Bank has become the UK’s 32nd UNESCO World Heritage Site. The
News article
Million insects saved as part of £8million of National Lottery funding
A million bugs Oxford University Museum of Natural History’s British Insect Collection has over a million specimens from the 18th century to today, including some that are now extinct. Spanning nearly the entire history of British entomology, the collection is vital in understating the extent and
News article
National Lottery funding for three volunteer-led projects in Scotland
Three new projects in Scotland, with volunteering at their heart, have secured significant support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
News article
Launch of £100million Heritage Horizon Awards
The Heritage Horizon Awards will invest £100million over the next three years in ambitious, innovative and transformational projects that will revolutionise UK heritage.