York's City Art Gallery has hit the lottery jackpot with a £202,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant to help it buy a work by William Hogarth.

And a historic barn is to become a centre of life in a village near York, thanks to a £171,500 grant from the fund.

The Hogarth work, a portrait of Elizabeth Hoadly painted in 1741, has been bought for £275,000, with support from several organisations including York Civic Trust, the Friends of York Art Gallery and the National Art Collections Fund.

It will go on display from March 28. Elizabeth Hoadly was the first wife of Dr Benjamin Hoadly, physician to the Royal Household and author of a popular comedy, The Suspicious Husband.

Gallery curator Richard Green says the painting vividly exemplifies the robust, bravura brushwork that Hogarth employed in the 1740s.

At one time it seemed Nether Poppleton's tithe barn, reputed to have been used by Prince Rupert and his troops before the Battle of Marston Moor in 1664, was destined for demolition.

But residents formed the Friends of Poppleton Tithe Barn four years ago in attempt to preserve the Manor Farm area of the village, of which the barn is an integral part.

The group persuaded North Yorkshire County Council to sell them the Grade II listed building for the token sum of £1, if they could raise sufficient funds for its restoration.

In just two years, with support from villagers, businesses and local trusts, the friends raised £50,000 - almost a quarter of what was needed towards restoring the barn - but needed lottery cash to complete the work on the 15th century structure.

Bob Jones, who helped to formulate the lottery application, said villagers in both Nether and Upper Poppleton were excited at the news that the bid had been successful.

"We are absolutely delighted," he said. The barn will provide a venue for concerts, training courses and wedding receptions, and provide a focus for village life.

"An expert committee is now being formed which will plan how the work is to be done with help from English Heritage."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.