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World Heritage Sites in the UK
The UK and its overseas territories have 35 UNESCO World Heritage Sites: 29 listed for culture, 5 for nature and 1 for both, according to the Wikipedia list we read on 2026-11-01 (UNESCO's own site refused our automated request; each entry links to its UNESCO page).
21 have a Britlens guide page, 3 appear as a day trip idea from one of our guides, 1 has a guide planned and 10 have no guide yet.
- England (18)
- Scotland (6)
- Wales (3)
- Nordirland (2)
- Across England and Scotland (1)
- Across England and Wales (1)
- British Overseas Territories (4)
- Former site
- Quellen
England
18 sites, oldest listing first. See also England at a glance.
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Durham Castle and Cathedral
Norman cathedral of the late 11th and early 12th centuries and the castle of the prince-bishops.
No guide yetNearest guide: Newcastle and Gateshead, about 22 km in a straight line.
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Ironbridge Gorge
Early Industrial Revolution valley with mines, furnaces, workers' houses and the Iron Bridge of 1779.
Guide available -
Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites
Prehistoric stone circles and ceremonial monuments on the chalk of Wiltshire.
Guide available -
Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of Fountains Abbey
18th-century landscaped water garden around the ruins of a 12th-century Cistercian abbey.
Guide available -
Blenheim Palace
18th-century country palace and landscaped park near Woodstock.
Day trip idea onlyNearest guide: Oxford, about 12 km in a straight line.
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City of Bath
Roman baths and a Georgian city of crescents, squares and terraces.
Guide available -
Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey including Saint Margaret's Church
The Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and St Margaret's Church.
Guide available -
Canterbury Cathedral, St Augustine's Abbey and St Martin's Church
Seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury and two older churches tied to the start of Christianity in England.
Guide available -
Tower of London
Norman fortress begun by William the Conqueror, later a palace, prison and home of the Crown Jewels.
Guide available -
Maritime Greenwich
Royal Observatory, Queen's House, Old Royal Naval College and Greenwich Park.
Guide available -
Derwent Valley Mills
18th- and 19th-century cotton mills and mill towns, including Cromford.
Guide available -
Dorset and East Devon Coast (the Jurassic Coast)
Cliffs exposing about 185 million years of rock, known for fossils.
Guide available -
Saltaire
Victorian model village built around a textile mill by Titus Salt.
No guide yetNearest guide: Leeds, about 16 km in a straight line.
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Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Botanic gardens and glasshouses beside the Thames.
Guide available -
Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
Tin and copper mining landscapes of the 18th and 19th centuries, including the Penwith coast.
Guide available -
The English Lake District
Mountain and lake landscape shaped by farming, the Picturesque movement and early conservation.
Guide available -
Jodrell Bank Observatory
Radio astronomy observatory with the Lovell Telescope.
Day trip idea onlyNearest guide: Manchester, about 28 km in a straight line.
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The Great Spa Towns of Europe
Eleven spa towns in seven countries; Bath is the UK component.
Guide available
Schottland
6 sites, oldest listing first. See also Scotland at a glance.
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St Kilda
Remote island group listed for both its seabird colonies and the traces of the community that left in 1930.
No guide yetNearest guide: The Outer Hebrides, about 93 km in a straight line.
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Old and New Towns of Edinburgh
The medieval Old Town around the Royal Mile and the planned Georgian New Town.
Guide available -
Heart of Neolithic Orkney
Skara Brae, Maeshowe, the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar.
Guide available -
New Lanark
Cotton-mill village where Robert Owen tried out social reforms in the early 19th century.
No guide yetNearest guide: Glasgow, about 37 km in a straight line.
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The Forth Bridge
Railway cantilever bridge across the Firth of Forth, opened in 1890.
Guide available -
The Flow Country
Large area of blanket bog in the far north of Scotland.
No guide yetNearest guide: North Coast 500, about 47 km in a straight line.
Wales
3 sites, oldest listing first. See also Wales at a glance.
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Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd
Beaumaris, Caernarfon, Conwy and Harlech: castles built under Edward I in the late 13th century.
Guide available -
The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales
Quarries, villages and railways of the slate industry, including Llanberis.
Guide available
Nordirland
2 sites, oldest listing first. See also Northern Ireland at a glance.
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Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast
Coast of basalt columns formed by volcanic activity around 60 million years ago.
Guide available -
Moravian Church Settlements
Planned 18th-century church settlements; Gracehill is the UK part.
No guide yetNearest guide: Northern Ireland, about 35 km in a straight line.
Across England and Scotland
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Frontiers of the Roman Empire
Hadrian's Wall in northern England and the Antonine Wall in central Scotland, shared with Germany.
Guide plannedNearest guide: Newcastle and Gateshead, about 63 km in a straight line.
Across England and Wales
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Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal
Early 19th-century canal aqueduct by Thomas Telford and the canal around it.
Guide available
British Overseas Territories
These sites are in British Overseas Territories, far from Great Britain. We do not cover them; the UNESCO page has the details.
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Henderson Island
Uninhabited coral island in the South Pacific.
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Gough and Inaccessible Islands
Remote South Atlantic islands with large seabird colonies.
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Historic Town of St George and Related Fortifications, Bermuda
Early English colonial town with its forts.
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Gorham's Cave Complex
Sea caves with evidence of Neanderthal occupation.
Former World Heritage Site
Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City
Listed in 2004 and removed from the list in 2021. Do not describe Liverpool as a World Heritage Site.
Quellen
Names, locations, years, reference numbers and types come from the Wikipedia list (each row cites UNESCO). The one-line descriptions are our summaries of that list. Coverage reflects the guides on this site on 2026-11-01.
- Wikipedia: List of World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom (opens in new tab). The 35 inscribed sites, location, year listed, UNESCO reference number, type, map coordinates, Liverpool's removal in 2021. Checked on 2026-11-01.
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre: United Kingdom (opens in new tab). Official list. The site refused our automated request (HTTP 403), so we could not read it; each entry links to its UNESCO page for you to check. Checked on 2026-11-01.
Fotonachweise
- The Causeway Coast: Ajay Suresh from New York, NY, USA, CC BY 2.0, source
- Ironbridge Gorge: Colin, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Salisbury & Stonehenge: Perituss, CC0, source
- Conwy, Llandudno & the North Coast Castles: Source: Llywelyn2000Derivative: User:MathKnight, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Bath: Andy Li, CC0, source
- Canterbury: Hans Musil, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Old Town & Royal Mile: Anthony O'Neil, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Stromness & the West Mainland: Dr. John F. Burka, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- The Jurassic Coast: Saffron Blaze, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Matlock Bath, Matlock & the Derwent Valley: Janine Forbes., CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Penzance, Mousehole & Land’s End: Lewis Clarke, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Llangollen and Pontcysyllte: Adrian Pingstone, Public domain, source
- Dunfermline and the Forth: Tom Parnell from Scottish Borders, Scotland, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- The Lake District: brian gillman, CC BY 3.0, source
- Eryri (Snowdonia): Julian Herzog (Website), CC BY 4.0, source
Photos from Wikimedia Commons, used under the licences shown. All photo credits