A HAMPSHIRE project highlighting Britain’s seafaring history has received a £9,600 boost thanks to lottery funding.

Canoe to Canon, led by the Friends of the Maritime Archaeology Trust based in Southampton’s National Oceanography Centre, has received a Sharing Heritage grant.

Their project will take place in Southampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, aiming to help the public understand how Britain developed from canoes for the use of trading in prehistoric times through to defence of the nation’s trade routes over the ages.

Sharing Heritage grants are between £3,000 and £10,000 and are available to groups who want to discover their local heritage.

Projects can cover a wide spectrum of subject matter from exploring local archaeology and a community’s cultures and traditions to identifying and recording local wildlife.

The Friends of the Maritime Archaeology Trust will arrange trips to enable members of the community to visit historical venues to observe how prehistoric people probably traded with local tribes using water craft.

It will look at how water craft developed and advanced to carry cargoes on lengthier trade routes necessitating the use of weapons on ships to help protect goods from marauding vessels. It will also be able to participate in prehistoric hands-on activities, photography and poster production.

The trust’s project officer Jan Gillespie said: “We hope that we can enthuse many more of the general public with this. The project is short and so will all happen over the next six months, watch this space.”