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.

Each year, Cork County Council’s Heritage Unit administers a number of grant schemes to protect this heritage and full details of each scheme can be found below.

NOTE: The Built Heritage Investment Scheme 2025 has been announced, with a closing date of 27 September 2024. 

Schemes for the protection of architectural and archaeological heritage in County Cork
  • The 2025 Built Heritage Investment Scheme will provide grants of up to €50,000 to individual owners for small-scale works to repair and preserve their historic properties.
  • Successful applicants will be announced by the Minister in January 2025. 

For documents click the links below:

Submission of Applications: 

The deadline for submission of completed applications is 4.00pm on Friday, 27th of September 2024 in respect of the Built Heritage Investment Scheme 2025. Applications can be made by emailing conservation@corkcoco.ie or a hard copy may be submitted to the Built Heritage Investment Scheme, Cork County Council, Heritage and Conservation Office, Floor 3, Planning Department, County Hall, Cork.
 

The Historic Structure Fund 2025 will be announced later in 2024, see below for details of the 2024 Scheme, which closed to applications in January. 

  • The 2024 Historic Structures Fund will offer up to €200,000 for projects that deliver a major community benefit.
  • It also offers funding for vernacular structures and for historic shopfronts. The Historic Shopfront Stream provides funding for the refurbishment and conservation historic shop facades to safeguard these distinctive features of our towns, villages, and cities.
  • The Vernacular Stream provides funding for conservation repairs and small capital works to vernacular structures that are not listed in the local authority Record of Protected Structures.

For documents click the links below:

Historic Structure Fund 2024 Guidance Booklet for Applicants

Historic Structure Fund 2024 Guidance Application Form

Historic Structure Fund 2024 Appendix I - Form A (Applicant)

Historic Structure Fund 2024 Appendix V Applicant Checklist
 

The Community Monuments Fund 2025 will be announced later in 2024, see below for details of the 2024 Scheme, which closed to applications in January. 

The Community Monuments Fund will enable conservation works to be carried out on archaeological monuments, which are deemed to be significant and in need of support. It aims to build resilience in monuments enabling them to withstand the effects of climate change. The fund also aims to encourage access to monuments and improve their presentation. The Scheme has three streams of funding, all of which offer up to 100% of eligible costs.

  1. Stream 1: Grants up to €100,000 for essential repairs and capital works for the conservation of archaeological monuments.
  2. Stream 2: Grants of up to €30,000 for the development of Conservation Management Plans/Reports and detailed Specification of Works aimed at identifying measures for conservation and maintenance of archaeological monuments. 
  3. Stream 3: Grants of up to €30,000 for the enhancement of access infrastructure, interpretation projects (including virtual/online) and small scale emergency conservation works, at archaeological monuments.

The relevant details are as follows;

  1. Community Monuments Fund 2024 - Handbook (pdf)
  2. Community Monuments Fund 2024 - Application Form A (word)