The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are places of importance to cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972.[1] There are 35 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories. The UNESCO list contains one designated site in both England and Scotland (the Frontiers of the Roman Empire) plus eighteen exclusively in England, six in Scotland, four in Wales, two in Northern Ireland, and one in each of the overseas territories of Bermuda, Gibraltar, the Pitcairn Islands, and Saint Helena. There is an additional site partly in the UK territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, but is regarded to be part of Cyprus's list. The first sites in the UK to be inscribed on the World Heritage List were Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast; Durham Castle and Cathedral; Ironbridge Gorge; Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of Fountains Abbey; Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites; and the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd in 1986. The latest sites to be inscribed were The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales and Bath Spa (as a component of the Great Spas of Europe) in July 2021.[2]
The constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (commonly referred to as UNESCO) was ratified in 1946 by 26 countries, including the UK. Its purpose was to provide for the "conservation and protection of the world’s inheritance of books, works of art and monuments of history and science". The UK contributes £130,000 annually to the World Heritage Fund which finances the preservation of sites in developing countries. Some designated properties contain multiple sites that share a common geographical location or cultural heritage.
The United Kingdom National Commission for UNESCO advises the British government, which is responsible for maintaining its World Heritage Sites, on policies regarding UNESCO. The UK National Commission for UNESCO conducted research in 2014–15 on the Wider Value of UNESCO to the UK, and found that the UK's World Heritage Sites generated an estimated £85 million from April 2014 to March 2015 through their association with the global network.
World Heritage Site selection criteria i–vi are culturally related, and selection criteria vii–x are the natural criteria. Twenty-three properties are designated as "cultural", four as "natural", and one as "mixed". The breakdown of sites by type was similar to the overall proportions; of the 1,121 sites on the World Heritage List, 77.5% are cultural, 19% are natural, and 3.5% are mixed. St Kilda is the only mixed World Heritage Site in the UK. Originally preserved for its natural habitats alone, the site was expanded in 2005 to include the crofting community that once inhabited the archipelago; the site became one of only 25 mixed sites worldwide. The natural sites are the Dorset and East Devon Coast; Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast; Gough and Inaccessible Islands; and Henderson Island. The rest are cultural.
In 2012, the World Heritage Committee added Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City to the List of World Heritage in Danger, citing threats to the site's integrity from planned urban development projects.[3] The site was stripped of World Heritage status in 2021.[4]
The UNESCO list contains one designated site in both England and Scotland (the Frontiers of the Roman Empire, which is also in Germany)[5] with another sixteen in England, five in Scotland, four in Wales, one in Northern Ireland, and one in each of the overseas territories of Bermuda, Gibraltar, the Pitcairn Islands, and Tristan da Cunha. The maps below show all current World Heritage Sites.
The table lists information about each World Heritage Site:
Name: as listed by the World Heritage Committee
Location: in one of the UK's constituent countries and overseas territories, with co-ordinates provided by UNESCO
Period: time period of significance, typically of construction
UNESCO data: the site's reference number, the year the site was inscribed on the World Heritage List, and the criteria it was listed under
Description: brief description of the site
| Name | Image | Location | Country / territory | Coords | Date | UNESCO data | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blaenavon Industrial Landscape | Wales | 51.78°N -3.08°W | 19th century | In the 19th century, Wales was the world's foremost producer of iron and coal. Blaenavon is an example of the landscape created by the industrial processes associated with the production of these materials. The site includes quarries, public buildings, workers' housing, and a railway. | ||||
| Blenheim Palace | England | 51.841°N -1.361°W | Blenheim Palace, the residence of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, was designed by architects John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor. The associated park was landscaped by Capability Brown. The palace celebrated victory over the French and is significant for establishing English Romantic Architecture as a separate entity from French Classical Architecture. | |||||
| Canterbury Cathedral, St Augustine's Abbey, and St Martin's Church | England | 51.28°N 1.08°W | St Martin's Church is the oldest church in England. The church and St Augustine's Abbey were founded during the early stages of the introduction of Christianity to the Anglo-Saxons. The cathedral exhibits Romanesque and Gothic architecture, and is the seat of the Church of England. | |||||
| Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd | Wales | 53.139°N -4.276°W | During the reign of Edward I of England (1272–1307), a series of castles were constructed in Wales with the purpose of subduing the population and establishing English colonies in Wales. The World Heritage Site covers many castles including Beaumaris, Caernarfon, Conwy, and Harlech. The castles of Edward I are considered the pinnacle of military architecture by military historians.[6] | |||||
| City of Bath | England | 51.38°N -2.36°W | Founded by the Romans as a spa, an important centre of the wool industry in the medieval period, and a spa town in the 18th century, Bath has a varied history. The city is preserved for its Roman remains and Palladian architecture. | |||||
| Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape | England | 50.13°N -5.38°W | 18th and 19th centuries | Tin and copper mining in Devon and Cornwall boomed in the 18th and 19th centuries, and at its peak the area produced two-thirds of the world's copper. The techniques and technology involved in deep mining developed in Devon and Cornwall were used around the world. | ||||
| Derwent Valley Mills | England | 53.02°N -1.499°W | 18th and 19th centuries | The Derwent Valley Mills was the birthplace of the factory system; the innovations in the valley, including the development of workers' housing – such as at Cromford – and machines such as the water frame, were important in the Industrial Revolution. The Derwent Valley Mills influenced North America and Europe.[7] | ||||
| Dorset and East Devon Coast | England | 50.7°N -2.98°W | The cliffs that make up the Dorset and Devon coast are an important site for fossils and provide a continuous record of life on land and in the sea in the area since 185 million years ago. | |||||
| Durham Castle and Cathedral | England | 54.774°N -1.575°W | Durham Cathedral is the "largest and finest" example of Norman architecture in England and vaulting of the cathedral was part of the advent of Gothic architecture. The cathedral houses relics of St Cuthbert and Bede. The Norman castle was the residence of the Durham prince-bishops. | |||||
| data-sort-value=English Lake District | The English Lake District | England | 54.4739°N -3.0822°W | Famous for its scenic landscape of mountains, lakes, houses, gardens and parks, the Lake District was celebrated through picturesque and romantic visual arts and literature from the 18th century on. | ||||
| The Flow Country | 58.3481°N -3.9833°W | Scotland | Expansive blanket bog landscape | |||||
| Forth Bridge | Edinburgh, Inchgarvie and Fife, | Scotland | 56.0004°N -3.3887°W | 1890 | The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge over the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland, 9miles west of Edinburgh City Centre. It is considered an iconic structure and a symbol of Scotland. It was designed by the English engineers Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker and built by Sir William Arrol of Glasgow who also built Tower Bridge in London. | |||
| Frontiers of the Roman Empire | England, Scotland | 54.99°N -2.6°W | Hadrian's Wall was built in 122 AD and the Antonine Wall was constructed in 142 AD to defend the Roman Empire from "barbarians". The World Heritage Site was previously listed as Hadrian's Wall alone, but was later expanded to include the Antonine Wall in Scotland and the barriers, walls and forts in modern Germany.[8] | |||||
| Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast |