Built to last: The growing legacy of a National Lottery funded scheme for Heritage skills

National Lottery links with Lincs’ 

• Lincoln Cathedral has had over £13m from National Lottery grants.
• The Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire has received 17 grants totalling over £5m so far.
• Many more heritage projects have been funded locally, like a hidden histories project involving University of Lincoln and partners, using nearly £250k to re-reimagine Lincoln, creating digital and legacy assets.
• Lincoln Castle has received over £12m from National Lottery grants. 
• Heritage skills have been funded too. The Heritage Skills Centre at Lincoln Castle was involved in a broad local partnership that delivered Heritage Environment Skills (HES) bursaries (see below) backed with over £600k from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. 

Staff and Volunteer Skills

Backed by significant National Lottery funding over time, Lincoln city and county has a broad and fascinating Heritage Sector. It relies on staff and legions of volunteers who keep these sites, buildings, artefacts and spaces alive. 

Survival depends on many things, including the lifeblood of heritage skills, and the lifelines of new recruits with those heritage skills. 

Fortunately, a recent 4-year programme of skills bursaries has helped: Lincolnshire County Council’s Historic Environment Skills (HES) scheme backed by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. 

‘HES’

The project ran from April 2018 to March 2022 across Lincolnshire and the East Midlands. Delivered in partnership between Lincolnshire County Council as the lead, Heritage Lincolnshire and Lincoln Cathedral. 

The bursaries offered training and placements, up to two years, for individuals with little experience who wished to develop traditional Heritage skills. 

Sidenote: COVID-19 and all its challenges hampered HES however it achieved great things, and its legacy grows on today.   

Skills for people

Tim Snell got a place on the HES bursary scheme. Fast forward to 2026 and Tim is employed as Places Team Technical Assistant within the Historic Environment Record of Lincolnshire County Council. 

“All in all, a very good bursary,” Tim sums up. “It worked very well with my job; I was doing an apprenticeship. It all just flowed, without feeling overwhelmed.”

HES gave Tim and others a rounded set of skills and learning. Tim learned about conservation areas, and their boundaries, on visits to Boston, Lincolnshire; as well as heritage conservation, and heritage/area regeneration.

“The course material itself was fascinating. Though I am now office based,” explains Tim, “the learning about how slate is cut and how they make mud-and-stud buildings is fascinating. From the conservation angle, it's very useful to know about it. Even though now I'm pursuing the archaeological side, conservation is still important.”

Example?

“One of the concepts taught was how lime mortar is much better for historical buildings in terms of its breathability, the passing of moisture through the building to avoid rots. It was useful to learn all kinds of techniques.”

HES helped people and the Heritage sector

“Everyone on that course progressed well,” Tim says. “They're almost all in that Heritage line of work. They're skilled at those jobs because they had that chance to do it.”

In fact, 27 ‘HES’ trainees got recruited to a variety of skills placements: 25 people went on to employment or education in the Heritage sector.

• 18 (two-thirds) secured employment like Tim with heritage skills organisations. 
• 2 trainees have secured places at university to study archaeology. 
• 4 trainees finished placements and looked for employment.
• 1 trainee explored other options within Heritage.
• (2 trainees looked for opportunities outside of Heritage). 

Overwhelming HES success has its legacy for people like Tim, organisations, and the sector.  

Skilled people for employers

“It is such a, benefit not just to the people, but also companies,” Tim says. “Because now they're getting skilled workers into their teams, especially in these areas where it might be in decline, where there are shortages.”

Sidenote: If you want to learn more about the endangered, and already extinct, heritage skills of the UK then see the Red List, maintained by The Heritage Crafts Association – itself a recipient of a couple of National Lottery grants, most recently £158k in 2024, to bolster its important work to help safeguard Heritage and its future. 

The last word goes to Tim’s Manager, Sarah Grundy, Senior Historic Environment Officer at Lincolnshire County Council. Sarah knows first-hand the benefit of Tim becoming skilled up before joining her team. 

“It's all been really positive,” says Sarah of HES and Tim joining her team: “His rounded learning about the historic environment and all the different aspects to it is great. We do tend to specialise a lot in what we do. But in the Historic Places Team, broadly, we want to protect, maintain, enhance and promote wherever we can.”

Spotlight: Women in Heritage

Perhaps surprising to some, women are equally interested in, motivated by and adept at heritage skills as HES and its final evaluation showed: 

• 41% (11 of 27) HES bursaries were taken by women.
• Women in HES broke the mould, getting hands-on skills in stonemasonry, joinery, slating, metal roofing, coir matting, building preservation and conservation. 
• 100% was the success rate for women in HES – all women progressed on to work or education in Heritage. 
• Female-led project management meant smooth operations and innovative problem solving (HES Evaluation, 2021).
• Women were also key to the strategic steering group leading HES.