Schemes for the protection of architectural and archaeological heritage in County Cork

The County of Cork is steeped in built and archaeological heritage with close to 3,000 protected structures; over 50 Architectural Conservation Areas and close to 20,000 recorded archaeological monuments.

Owners and Custodians of this heritage are now being invited to apply for funding to safeguard these structures and archaeological monuments into the future, through the 2024 Built Heritage Investment Scheme (BHIS) and Historic Structures Fund (HSF). These are national schemes, operated at the local level by each Local Authority and in the case of the county of Cork, it is Cork County Council’s Heritage Unit and Conservation Office that administer the schemes.

Each scheme has benefited the county’s heritage significantly in the last number of years. The Community Monuments Fund, for example, which has been operating annually since its establishment in 2020, has seen an investment of over Nine Hundred Thousand Euro (€911K) for 17 different archaeological sites in County Cork and Millions of Euro have been invested in the County through the BHIS and HSF, which have both been in operation now for a number of years.

The operation of the three schemes in 2024 sees a combined national fund of €19m, which is an increase of €4m compared to 2023: €4.5m for the Historic Structures Fund; €4.5m for the Built Heritage Investment Scheme and €10m for the Community Monuments Fund.

Cork County Council’s Historic Monuments Advisory Committee intends to host an online Grants workshop on the afternoon of December 14^th, 2023, and one can express their interest by emailing corkheritage@corkcoco.ie.

The deadline for applications under the Built Heritage Investment Scheme and Historic Structures Fund is 16:00 on Thursday, 18 January 2024, and the details regarding each scheme can be found online at https://www.corkcoco.ie/en/resident/heritage-and-conservation/schemes-for-the-protection-of-architectural-and-archaeological-heritage-in-county-cork. [Details of the Community Monuments Fund 2024, once announced at the National level, will also be made available at this link].

Announcing the 2024 Built Heritage Investment Scheme and Historic Structures Fund, Malcolm Noonan TD, Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, said “I strongly believe in the importance of supporting communities to protect and conserve our shared built heritage, and recognise that this relies on the dedication of many different parties, including owners and custodians, skilled craftspeople, and local authority experts. As Minister, I have had the pleasure of visiting numerous properties around the country that have received assistance under these two grant schemes and seen first-hand the positive impacts that this work has on the character of a place, the communities that live there and local employment. I would encourage anyone considering applying to get in touch with the Architectural Conservation Officer or Heritage Officer within their local authority as soon as possible.”