THE Cutty Sark tea clipper and an archive that includes letters by Jane Austen and Lord Byron are beneficiaries of a £78 million spending spree by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The awards, to six causes, represent the second-largest outlay of lottery money by the fund to date.

Critics questioned the value of the largest award, £17.7 million, to the National Library of Scotland to buy the John Murray archive.

John Sutherland, Professor of English at University College London and chairman of the judges of this year’s Man Booker prize, said yesterday that there would be a “storm of protest” similar to that in 1995, when £12.5 million was spent on the Churchill papers.

Professor Sutherland questioned whether it was realistic for public bodies to compete with the high prices for archives reached in auction rooms. “In one sense it is sinister,” he said. “If that is what the Murray archive is worth, what is the Faber archive or Oxford University Press archive worth? It is a brave decision.”

He has asked previously whether the archive, which contains 10,000 letters to Byron, was a “plumless pudding” that had already been documented. The National Library believes that 80 per cent of the collection has not been explored. It comprises 150,000 manuscripts, papers and correspondence between the John Murray publishing company and writers including Charles Darwin, Michael Faraday, Sir Walter Scott, David Livingstone, Charles Babbage and William Gladstone.

A. N. Wilson, the author, also suggested that John Murray, the descendant of the 18th- century founder of the publishing company, should have given away the archive.

The Cutty Sark, the only surviving tea clipper, was promised £12.9 million to prevent decay that could have closed her within two years. The 136-year-old ship, which set the record for a voyage from Australia to England at 72 days in 1885, will be restored and set in a Kevlar sling that will allow visitors to walk beneath her hull. The Cutty Sark Trust now needs to find an additional £12 million.

Richard Doughty, chief executive of the trust, said: “The Heritage Lottery Fund has effectively saved the ship. Without this funding, we would be looking at the closure of the ship in 2007.”

Other grants include £15 million to found the Riverside Museum, a development in Glasgow that will incorporate the Museum of Transport. The museum, which will be part of an £800 million project to regenerate Glasgow Harbour, will tell the story of industry on the rivers Clyde and Kelvin.

The Great North Museum in Newcastle will receive £9.1 million for premises to house the collections from the Hancock Museum, the Shefton Museum and the Museum of Antiquities. The new building will house exhibits including the largest collection of artefacts from Hadrian’s Wall.

LOTTO PAYOUTS

The largest grants so far awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund are:



£30.9 million: Museums of Liverpool

£30.7 million: Somerset House, London

£26 million: Stonehenge

£25 million: Kennet and Avon Canal

£23 million: Science Museum, London

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Margot Fonteyn: In her footsteps
• Forget beautiful people, let's have wonky Brits
• Fundamentalist brew: faith and power