How £1 billion of National Lottery cash has enriched Scotland's heritage

Caroline Clark explains how the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s £1 billion of investment over the last three decades has enriched Scotland – and how it will continue

You might walk beside a river and see a flash of bright blue as a kingfisher flies past or spot a curious and wonderful object in a museum that stops you in your tracks. You might wander through a walled garden or appreciate the skill of a builder crafting a dry-stone wall.

As The National Lottery Heritage Fund reaches a milestone of £1 billion in funding in Scotland across 30 years, it’s increasingly likely your experiences will have been enhanced by funding from National Lottery players.

The Heritage Fund is best known for big, transformational projects like the National Museum of Scotland, the Riverside Museum in Glasgow, the V&A Dundee – projects which have provided huge, visible benefit on a large scale. But if you lift the curtain there are many smaller, lesser-known stories, powerful reminders of how our funding has helped to enrich individual lives across Scotland.

National Lottery funding is helping to ensure a balance is struck between responsible tourism at the Calanais Stones on the Isle of Lewis and protecting the 5,000-year-old monument (Picture: Andy Buchanan) | AFP via Getty Images

Dunkirk evacuation ‘Little Ship’

We have supported well over 5,000 projects, many telling unheard stories which could not have been written without the support of National Lottery players.

One of my favourite examples is Skylark IX, a ‘Dunkirk Little Ship’, which saved lives during the Operation Dynamo evacuation in 1940 and was later saved by the Skylark Recovery Trust, at the end of a long career as a pleasure boat, from a watery grave at Loch Lomond. With our support, it was restored by a specialist boatbuilding team working with people in recovery and now sits at the heart of the Trust’s projects to inspire people to make positive changes to their lives and communities.

Our support often enables a transformation beyond the restoration of heritage itself. Many will know of our support for the restoration of the derelict Lews Castle to create the first-ever Gaelic-led museum telling the story of the Outer Hebrides. It was co-produced with community heritage societies across all the islands, enabling the return home of six of the iconic Lewis Chessmen.

But it is perhaps less well-known that new jobs were created in the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Heritage Service and through the opening of a new shop and café. Experts in traditional building were used in the restoration project; and the upper floors of castle are leased as holiday accommodation, to help sustainability. Behind every Heritage Fund project lies a wider story of lives changed for the better.

Alongside job creation, we have consistently supported skills development and training and our projects have opened doors for countless individuals, inspiring new beginnings and career paths. A key element of this has been developing skills and apprenticeships to address shortages, provide training, and equip young people for careers in heritage.

Stonemasons, thatchers and blacksmiths

Sometimes our projects are entirely dedicated to this. The one that has taken us over the £1 billion mark in Scottish investment will lead to the creation of Scotland’s Centre of Excellence for Canals & Traditional Skills, based in a former Irn-Bru factory in Falkirk. From stonemasonry to blacksmithery, thatching to environmental conservation, it will enable the preservation of traditional skills vital for maintaining Scotland’s built landscape as well as the natural heritage woven around it.

A recent report by Historic Environment Scotland highlighted a crisis in heritage skills in the sector, outlining a dwindling number of trained professionals: we have 20 architectural blacksmiths with traditional skills, fewer than 300 stonemasons, ten thatchers and only five Icon-registered stained-glass conservators in Scotland. The demand for these skills is increasing, driven in part by the need to retrofit historic buildings to meet national net-zero targets. We hope that this new centre will help to reverse the decline.

Our value also lies in unearthing stories. For example, the Geopark Charity, within the Northwest Highlands Geopark project, is collaborating with residents to share marine heritage stories, reconnecting communities traditionally linked by the sea, while focusing on enhancing wellbeing and health benefits. We also supported Scotland’s Year of Stories in 2022, helping communities across the country tell their own stories and histories.

And over the next 30 years? We plan to continue to deliver lasting benefits to local communities, empowering people to get involved and putting them at the heart of everything we do. We see heritage acting as a catalyst for growth, positive change and community building. Three years ago, we launched our new strategy, Heritage 2033, where we set out our future ambitions. It is designed to be flexible and adaptive, backed by long-term, at-scale investments, with people remaining at its heart.

Our Townscape Heritage Initiative, which saw the historic hearts of towns across Scotland conserved and revitalised, has consistently helped them flourish. Building on this, last year Glasgow was selected as one of 20 new Heritage Places in the UK which will receive a share of £200 million. The funding will be focused on local priorities, which will be identified by working closely within communities.

We know that Scotland’s heritage is facing many challenges, including financial pressures, skill shortages, and visitor numbers still in recovery from the impact of Covid and cost-of-living increases. Many of our partners are dealing with increased costs in completing projects. We are committed to supporting them as much as we can, and our grants are designed to be flexible and adaptive.

We will still fund what we are best known for – securing the future of Scotland’s most historic treasures. Five thousand years ago, ancient Hebrideans erected the Calanais Stones on the Isle of Lewis. Our funding is helping the local community ensure a balance is struck between supporting responsible tourism and protecting this internationally important heritage.

Heritage encourages us all to understand and celebrate our past. But at its best, the Heritage Fund is about changing lives today and making a tangible impact on the future of our communities.

Caroline Clark is the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Scotland director