Happy 30th Birthday, National Lottery
As the National Lottery and its bodies (Heritage Fund, Arts Councils, Sport England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and Community Fund) celebrates its 30th birthday, we look back at the ‘game changing’ moments its funding has supported at our places — and the difference these have made to how we explore and share heritage of all kinds.
Capturing the imagination
Twenty years ago, a remarkable example of a Victorian country house, gardens and estate – complete with its furnishings and collection – came up for auction and was at risk of sale to a private owner.
Tyntesfield outside Bristol became the focus of an unprecedented public appeal by the National Trust to raise funds in just 50 days, to the tune of £24 million.
Across the country, something about the romance of this beguiling time capsule, with rooms filled with great artworks and sculleries packed with pots and pans, captured the public imagination and remarkably donations flooded in.
Charitable organisations and heritage bodies including the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Trust members and supporters, celebrities, even local passengers on their daily bus ride past the house, all gave money, saving Tyntesfield as a heritage site for the nation. But with that acquisition came a need for a massive restoration and the National Lottery stepped in to the tune of £20 million towards this and interpretation of the huge mansion and its estate.
Once the private home of a merchant and his family, Tyntesfield is now a much-loved public space and a retreat for everyone, just a stone’s throw from the city. Visitors can explore its collections and stories, discover and learn from the kitchen gardens and relax in the beautifully restored gardens and parkland. Today the property welcomes nearly 400,000 visitors a year and has a vibrant programme of contemporary events.
Celebrating centuries of history
Lottery money has not just helped to conserve and interpret large estates like Tyntesfield. The National Trust has benefitted from over £145 million in the last three decades, with some diverse properties and projects receiving millions each. Equally, many other smaller but important grants have been received. Together they help to preserve centuries of history.
Sutton Hoo
Funding for the new exhibition hall, viewing tower and walkways at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk have changed the way our visitors experience archaeology and the story of the unique Anglo Saxon ship burial discovered there. Educational and community programmes are also helping people of all ages learn about more recent social history, such as the fascinating photographic archives of mid-20th century Liverpool studio and street photographer Edward Chambré Hardman.
Sharing broader stories
But as we look forward, we want to do more to reflect the diversity of our nation’s communities and explore how our places can tell broader stories in a way that is relevant and welcoming to all.
For example, following recent audience research, we are currently exploring how we can better generate and share the stories of our places by improving the interpretation and visitor experience. This is happening at 28 of our most internationally significant properties, which include Tyntesfield, along with other houses such as Blickling, Oxburgh and Petworth, which have all received Lottery funding over the decades, to provide our visitors with a more rounded history and unlock stories previously hidden or unexplored.
We are also inviting artists and local communities to explore their heritage within our spaces, such as celebrating Diwali at Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire, home to collections of South and East Asian artifacts and revealing more behind the creation of great houses like Dyrham Park near Bath, and its colonial connections.
Working in partnership
Lottery money has also supported our places in offering engaging ways for people to get involved, whether through educational visits, to see conservators at work, and through contemporary arts projects where artists and designers work alongside local communities to explore diverse parts of our heritage.
The National Lottery encourages recipients to think differently, be ambitious, work with new audiences and deliver public benefit. Its funding has enabled the Trust to evolve through dynamic and creative partnerships over the years, allowing us work at landscape scale, outside our physical boundaries and in the communities where people live.
For example, we are one of 16 partners working to protect the Skell Valley in North Yorkshire and its unique cultural and natural heritage under threat from climate change and extreme weather conditions. And in the Lake District, perhaps Britain’s best-loved landscape, our Fix the Fells project is working with volunteers, rangers and other organisations to safeguard the spectacular site from erosion by repairing and maintaining the upland paths.
Every Lottery contribution, large or small, has had an important and often game-changing impact on our places and how we share them now and for the future – we say a profound thank you and happy 30th birthday to the National Lottery.
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Projects supported by the National Lottery
Discover projects at National Trust places that are supported by the National Lottery, who’ve been supporting projects that help people access and explore our heritage since 1994.