Religious buildings are a testament to the history of the British Isles, the story of worshippers and the architects and builders who created them.
Now, the Heritage Lottery Fund has launched a new strategic partnership with the National Churches Trust, Pilgrim Trust and Plunkett Foundation to help secure their future.
‘Places of worship: Inspiring Ideas’ is welcoming applications from projects looking to explore innovative ideas and test new approaches to managing, caring for and funding historic places of worship of all faiths and denominations.
The aim of the fund is to help make precious historic places of worship financially resilient, so they are safeguarded for future generations.
HLF is working with its partners to provide grants to creative projects between ten thousand and two hundred and fifty thousand pounds through its existing Resilient Heritage programme with HLF committing one million pounds in grants.
The initiative is operating in two stages. Initially, applicants submit a short expression of interest outlining their idea. These will then be reviewed by the initiative partners and the strongest projects will be invited to submit full applications.