List of World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom facts for kids

Stonehenge is part of the Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The List of World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom is a group of places chosen by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

There are 28 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom and overseas territories. The UNESCO list has seventeen properties in England (the Frontiers of the Roman Empire is shared with Germany), four in Scotland, three in Wales, one in Northern Ireland, and one in each of the overseas territories of Bermuda, the Pitcairn Islands, and Saint Helena.

History

UNESCO was created for the "conservation and protection of the world’s inheritance of books, works of art and monuments of history and science". The constitution of UNESCO was ratified in 1946 by 26 countries, including the United Kingdom.

The UK contributes £130,000 annually to the World Heritage Fund which finances the preservation of sites in developing countries. Some locations have many sites that have a common geographical location or cultural history.

List

The World Heritage list has developed over time. It is part of a process; and the list continues to grow.

The United Kingdom National Commission for UNESCO advises the British government on policies dealing with UNESCO. The British government is responsible for maintaining its World Heritage Sites.

The first sites in the UK to be added to the World Heritage List, in 1986, were:

• Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast
• Durham Castle and Cathedral
• Ironbridge Gorge
• Studley Royal Park and the Ruins of Fountains Abbey
• Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites
• Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd.

The latest site to be added was Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal in 2009.

There are 10 criteria for a site to be able to be added to the list. World Heritage Site selection criteria i–iv are culturally based. selection criteria vii–x are natural criteria. Twenty-three properties are listed as "cultural". Four are listed as "natural". One is listed as "mixed", which means that the site is notable for both natural and cultural criteria. This is similar to the proportions of all World Heritage Sites. Of the 890 sites on the World Heritage List, 77.4% are cultural, 19.8% are natural, and 2.8% are mixed. St Kilda is the only mixed World Heritage Site in the UK. At first, it was added to the list because of its natural habitats. In 2005, the crofting community that once was part of the archipelago was added to the site. 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.

As of 2012, there are 28 places in the United Kingdom which are on the World Heritage List.

• 23 cultural sites
• 4 natural sites

There are 13 sites which are on a tentative list.

Table

Name	Image	Location	Notes
Blaenavon Industrial Landscape		Wales, Blaenavon Blaenavon, Wales	cultural site
Blenheim Palace		England, Oxfordshire, Woodstock Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England	cultural site
Canterbury Cathedral, St Augustine's Abbey, and St Martin's Church		England, Kent, Canterbury Canterbury, Kent, England	cultural site
Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd		Wales, Conwy Conwy, Isle of Anglesey and Gwynedd, Wales	cultural site
City of Bath		England, Somerset Bath, Somerset, England	cultural site
Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape		England, Cornwall Cornwall and Devon, England	cultural site
Derwent Valley Mills		England, Derbyshire Derbyshire, England	cultural site
Dorset and East Devon Coast		England, Dorset Dorset and Devon, England	natural site — also called Jurassic Coast
Durham Castle and Cathedral		England, Durham Durham, County Durham, England	cultural site
Frontiers of the Roman Empire		Hadrian's Wall, northern England and Antonine Wall, southern Scotland	cultural site—scattered limes in the UK and in Germany
Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast		Northern Ireland, County Antrim County Antrim, Northern Ireland	natural site
Gough and Inaccessible Island		Saint Helena Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, South Atlantic Ocean
Heart of Neolithic Orkney		Scotland, Orkney Orkney, Scotland	cultural site
Henderson Island		Pitcairn Henderson Island, Pitcairn Islands, Pacific Ocean
Historic Town of St George and Related Fortifications, Bermuda		Bermuda St George, Bermuda	cultural site
Ironbridge Gorge		England, Shropshire Shropshire, England	cultural site
Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City		England, Merseyside Liverpool, Merseyside, England	cultural site
Maritime Greenwich		England, Greater London, Greenwich Greenwich, London	cultural site
New Lanark		Scotland, New Lanark New Lanark, South Lanarkshire, Scotland	cultural site
Old and New Towns of Edinburgh		Scotland, Edinburgh Edinburgh, Scotland	cultural site
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal		Wales, Wrexham Wrexham, Wales and Shropshire, England	cultural site
Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew		England, Greater London, Kew Kew, Greater London, England	cultural site
St Kilda		Scotland, St Kilda St Kilda, Scotland	mixed site
Saltaire		England, West Yorkshire Saltaire, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England	cultural site
Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites		England, Wiltshire Wiltshire, England	cultural site — Stonehenge, Avebury
Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of Fountains Abbey		England, North Yorkshire North Yorkshire, England	cultural site
Tower of London		England, Greater London, Tower Hamlets Tower Hamlets, London	cultural site
Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret's Church		Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, London	cultural site

Tentative list

The "Tentative List" is an list of important heritage and natural sites that a country is considering adding to the World Heritage List. The Tentative List can be updated at any time. Being on the list is needed for a site to be considered to be added within a five to ten year period.

There are 13 sites on the tentative list.

1. Chatham Naval Dockyard, England
2. Creswell Crags, England
3. Darwin's Home and Workplace, England
4. Flow Country, Scotland
5. Forth Bridge, Scotland
6. Gorham’s Cave Complex, Gibralter
7. Island of St Helena, Saint Helena Island, South Atlantic Ocean
8. Jodrell Bank Observatory, England
9. Lake District, England
10. Monastery of Wearmouth Jarrow
11. Mousa, Old Scatness and Jarlshof: The Crucible of Iron Age Shetland, Scotland
12. Slate Industry of North Wales
13. Turks and Caicos Islands, Caribbean

, Scotland

1. The royal sites of Ireland – Navan Fort, Northern Ireland
2. The Norfolk and Suffolk Broads, England
3. Slate Industry of North Wales, Wales
4. Offa's Dyke, England–Wales border
5. St Andrews, Medieval Burgh and Links, Scotland
6. Island of Saint Helena, Saint Helena Island, South Atlantic Ocean
7. Turks and Caicos Islands, Caribbean
8. Tynwald Hill and environs – Norse assembly sites of North West Europe, Isle of Man
9. Former RAF Upper Heyford, England
10. Wye Valley and Forest of Dean, England–Wales border
11. City of York, England -->

Related pages

• UNESCO World Heritage Site

Images for kids

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  Forth Bridge

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  Flowers in front of the Palm House, Kew Gardens

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  Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire

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  Gorham's Cave

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  Caves Creswell Crags

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  Glenridding, Cumbria, England

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  Lovell Telescope

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  Anglesey Barracks