UK lottery millions to fund heritage projects

Period living room in 1965 at the Geffrye Museum of the Home. Image by Chris Ridley/Geffrye Museum of the Home/PA Wire

Almost £100 million in funding has been announced for a series of heritage sites that include projects to preserve Britain’s rich scientific and technological history.

The world’s largest medical collection in London’s Science Museum, one of the earliest factories at Derby Silk Mill, and Cheshire’s ground-breaking Jodrell Bank centre for astronomy are among the sites receiving a share of the money from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Millions of pounds are set to help digitise the British Library’s UK sound collection, while the Great Central Railway,a double-track operational heritage railway between Loughborough and Leicester, will become home to a new railway museum.

The investment will also support the redevelopment or refurbishment of three museums – Dorset County Museum, the Burrell Collection in Glasgow and east London’s Geffrye Museum – and the restoration of Lincoln Cathedral.

Sir Peter Luff, the new chairman of the Heritage Lottery Fund, said: “I hope National Lottery players will be delighted to see their money being used to tell the spellbinding 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.”

Grade I-listed Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank. Image by Ant Holloway/PA Wire

One of the biggest awards involves some £12.1 million for Jodrell Bank, home to the Grade I-listed Lovell Telescope and the only remaining site in the world which showcases the entire story of the development of radio astronomy. The funding will create a new exhibition pavilion to explain the role the site played in international scientific development and provide new programmes, including a schools scheme to reach an extra 6,000 young visitors a year.

Physicist and TV presenter Professor Brian Cox welcomed the support for Jodrell Bank. He said: “The rich scientific history of the UK is a key part of our culture and Jodrell Bank is the stand-out icon of UK science and engineering. When I was young, visiting Jodrell Bank was one of the things that inspired me to become a scientist. This new project will inspire many more young people to carry on our great tradition of science and engineering.”

London’s Science Museum is set to receive £8 million to redevelop its medicine galleries to showcase 3,000 objects from the world’s largest medical collection and tell the story of the development of medicine.

The new heritage railway museum at Leicester will be created with the help of £10 million in funding, and will house some of the most precious locomotives and rolling stock in the UK, as well as railway artefacts, and incorporate the heritage line.

Derby Silk Mill, on the foundations of the Lombe brothers’ 18th century silk thread factory which introduced the world’s first fully-mechanised factory, is in line to receive almost £9.4 million to restore and open up the site.

And the British Library is to receive support of more than £9.5 million for its “save our sounds” project to digitise the nation’s rare, unique and vulnerable sound recordings, from extinct birdsong to accents from around Britain, and enable the public to access them online.

Dorset Country Museum will receive nearly £10.4 million for a major overhaul which will bring together its remarkable collection, ranging from prehistoric items to a red dress worn by Thomas Hardy’s sister Kate and immortalised in Tess Of The D’Urbervilles.

Burrell Collection, Glasgow. Image by Glasgow Museums/PA Wire

The biggest award, of £15 million, is set to go to Glasgow’s Burrell Collection for a major refurbishment, while £11 million has been earmarked for a scheme to open up and breathe life into the Geffrye Museum, housed in 300-year-old almshouses in London.

Lincoln Cathedral, the only cathedral on Historic England’s buildings at risk register, has been awarded £12.4 million for urgent repairs and the creation of a new interpretation centre.

Culture Secretary John Whittingdale said: “National Lottery money continues to make an absolutely vital contribution to our culture and heritage in the UK. I’m thrilled that nine exciting projects across England and Scotland will benefit from this significant £98 million 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.”

(Press Association)