News story

UK heritage projects awarded nearly £100m

Nine museums and heritage attractions set to benefit from National Lottery investment.

British Library

The projects set to receive £98m range from the UK’s ground-breaking role in science and industry to the invention of radio astronomy at Jodrell Bank and our unique railway heritage.

Marking the announcement, Culture Secretary John Whittingdale and Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) Sir Peter Luff are today visiting the British Library’s Save our Sounds Collection, one of the projects awarded funding. See details of all 9 heritage attractions in England and Scotland via our Immersive.

Culture Secretary John Whittingdale OBE said:

National Lottery money continues to make an absolutely vital contribution to our culture and heritage in the UK. I’m thrilled that 9 exciting projects across England and Scotland will benefit from this significant £98m investment.

Whether it’s a new railway museum in Leicester, the Lovell Telescope at Cheshire’s Jodrell Bank or saving the UK’s most vulnerable sound recordings at the British Library - these grants will not only make a lasting difference to local areas and the UK’s wider heritage, but will also use culture to inspire young people to learn more about science and technology for generations to come.

Introducing his first set of awards since becoming Chair of HLF, Sir Peter Luff, said:

I hope National Lottery players will be delighted to see their money being used to tell the spell-binding story of the UK’s scientific and industrial excellence. Many of the projects we are supporting today celebrate this tradition. I am particularly pleased that the Lottery can help inspire young people to take a greater interest in science and technology. From the awe-inspiring Lovell Telescope to the Lombe brothers’ first fully mechanised factory, these sites will enhance local tourist economies as well as educate and entertain.

Read the news story on the Heritage Lottery Fund website

The 9 protects awarded funding are:

  • £12.1m to revitalise Jodrell Bank, home to the Lovell Telescope
  • £8m to revamp the Science Museum’s extensive Medicine Galleries
  • £9.3m to restore and open up Derby Silk Mill in the Derwent Valley
  • £10m to make Great Central Railway a unique double-track ‘preserved’ railway between Loughborough and Leicester
  • £9.5m to digitise the British Library’s Save our Sounds Collection
  • £10.3m to redevelop Dorset County Museum
  • £12.4m to restore Lincoln Cathedral
  • £15m to refurbish Glasgow’s award-wining Burrell Collection
  • £11m to transform East London’s the Geffrye Museum
Published 20 May 2015