£4.4m funding for London

An archive of black British and Caribbean history, a hidden castle and one of London's last remaining windmills are to receive funding as part of a £4.4 million investment in the capital's heritage.

A historic church organ, two 17th century mansions and the Sir John Soane's Museum's collection of art and artefacts will also receive a share of the grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The cash will generate an additional £11 million in partnership funding for the seven projects across London, as well as 17 full-time and two part-time jobs and two apprenticeships, the Heritage Lottery Fund said.

The funding will also create two organ restoration apprenticeships and establish an exhibition and a programme of school activities, concerts and recitals.

Work on the seven projects will create around 250 volunteer posts, and it is hoped local people will take an active role in conserving their nearby heritage.

Wesley Kerr, chairman of the Heritage Lottery Fund committee for London, said: "This astonishing array of places and projects reminds us that every London borough is steeped in history.

"These awards will make that history more accessible to millions of people by broadening horizons and opening opportunities.

"We are thrilled to support these projects which demonstrate how central heritage is to London's economy and spirit in all its wonderful immensity."

The projects receiving funding

• £813,000 for the restoration and opening of Soane's private apartments at the Sir John Soane's Museum, Camden, increasing visitor capacity and improving access to the building for disabled visitors;

• Almost £400,000 to restore Brixton Windmill, Lambeth, a Grade II listed building which was built in 1816, making it accessible to the public and providing educational activities;

• £206,000 for the George Padmore Institute, Haringey, to sort, catalogue and make available online the archives of its founding chairman John La Rose, who was at the forefront of political and cultural organisations in the black British community;

• More than £1.8 million to restore Grade I listed Forty Hall, a 17th century mansion in Enfield, and provide visitor and education facilities for the house and the "lost" Tudor Elsyng Palace whose archaeological remains are found in its grounds;

• Nearly £335,000, for Honeywood House, Sutton, a Grade II listed building dating from the 17th century, to pay for minor restoration and an overhaul of its collection of local history artefacts;

• £595,000 for Severndroog Castle, a triangular, three-story Grade II listed building on top of Shooters Hill, Greenwich. The money will restore and reopen the building which was constructed in 1784 to commemorate a British naval victory against pirates in the Indian Ocean;

• £237,000 to restore the organ, built in 1912 by JW Walker and Sons, at the Roman Catholic church of the Sacred Heart on Wimbledon Hill, Merton.