Oldham’s Northern Roots Secures £249,000 Lottery Grant to Transform Urban Wilderness into Heritage Destination

Oldham’s ambitious Northern Roots project has secured over £249,000 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to transform 160 acres of neglected urban green space into a community hub celebrating the town’s rich natural and industrial heritage.

The charity will use the funding to uncover centuries of Oldham’s natural history, from the pioneering work of 19th-century conservationist James Neild to the enduring legacy of the Oldham Microscopical Society, which has met continuously since 1864. The project will create jobs, training opportunities and community programs while preparing the site to welcome visitors by 2026.

“We are incredibly grateful to The National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery players for their support,” said Anna da Silva, CEO at Northern Roots. “Funding for this project enables Northern Roots to build on several years of consultation and engagement, and to celebrate Oldham’s great heritage stories. Funding will create jobs and opportunities, and put local residents in the driving seat, enabling them to shape the vision, plans and activities for Northern Roots.”

The initiative will recruit 12 local residents as Citizen Researchers, Citizen Rangers and Heritage Champions, providing training in research methodologies, species identification and heritage interpretation. The project builds on Northern Roots’ previous lottery-funded work celebrating Mary Higgs and the Beautiful Oldham Society, while drawing inspiration from the town’s 18th and 19th-century working-class scientific movements that democratized natural history study.

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