The Antonine Wall: Twenty years after Hadrian built his wall, in 142 AD, the Emperor Antonius Pius attempted to extend the empire 60 miles further north and built what is now known as the Antonine Wall. Henry was heard to remark, "Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest" and soon armed knights attacked Becket with swords while he knelt in prayer in the Cathedral. The Gardens are recognised around the world as a centre of excellence for the study of plants—based on unrivalled living and preserved plant and fungal collections. They demonstrate the outstanding and creative potential of human beings to create something larger than themselves without technology. 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. Eventually, he surrounded the North Wales province of Gwynedd with castles. Important (and easily seen) evidence of the history of life on earth—185 million years of it—is included at this site. World Heritage Sites in the UK There are currently (March 2018) 31 World Heritage Sites in the UK and its Overseas Territories, 18 of which are located entirely or partly in England. The four castles of Beaumaris, Conwy, Caernarfon, Harlech, and the fortified towns at Conwy and Caernarfon have not significantly changed since King Edward I of England’s Chief Architect, James of St George, first designed them in the 1200s. Britain’s newest World Heritage Site? The latest site to be inscribed was the Jodrell Bank Observatory in England in July 2019.[3]. King Edward the Confessor spent so much time establishing the Abbey that he neglected to have an heir, opening the door to the Norman Conquest. Located in the south Atlantic, Gough is considered one of the world's most important islands for seabird breeding. Salt provided his workers with stone houses, wash houses, bath houses, hospitals, schools and a library. The valley of the River Derwent lies near the eastern edge of the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire. This World Heritage site tells the story of English artistic and scientific endeavour in the 17th and 18th centuries. Its associated fortifications graphically illustrate the development of English military engineering from the 17th to the 20th century. Getty Images. 2 of 31. The Somerset city is renowned for its 18th-century Georgian architecture. Liverpool was once one of the world’s major trading centres and travel hubs for emigrants from northern Europe to America. Today, when you visit the observatory you can straddle 0º longitude and learn about the base-line for the world’s time zone system. As of July 2019, there are a total of 1,121 World Heritage Sites located in 167 States Parties (countries that have adhered to the World Heritage Convention, including the non-member state of the Holy See), of which 869 are cultural, 213 are natural and 39 are mixed properties. Presently it is the third largest with a diameter of 76.2 meters. Northern Ireland's only UNESCO World Heritage Site may look like a roadway into the North Atlantic but it is one of Ireland's natural phenomena, made of about 40,000 interlocking, hexagonal basalt columns. [2], 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.[12]. [6] 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. The infamous prison is one of the most iconic buildings in the UK. With the Island now home to some one million rare and endangered sea birds, are you ready to sail to ‘the islands at the edge of the world’ for the experience of a lifetime? Completely shut off from the world by two thousand nautical miles of open ocean and some of the world’s fiercest weather, the Gough and Inaccessible Islands are one of the last places in the world that remain close to pristine. Today, this World Heritage Site, inscribed in 2006, is divided among ten different locations within close proximity of each other, protecting engine houses, beam engines, technology, transportation and communities important to this industry between 1700 and 1914. The former mining town in south eastern Wales was one of the world's major producers of iron and coal. They are ours to share, to cherish and to respect. We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article. At its heart is the Lovell Telescope, which has been quietly probing the depths of space since 1957 and stands as a symbol of our wish to understand the universe in which we live. The first of these four monuments is Maeshowe. The stunning neo-gothic Westminster Palace, rebuilt in 1840, represents the culmination of a journey from a feudal society to a modern democracy. As one of the British Commonwealth’s most important ports, it did not only play a leading role in world trade but also modern dock technology and transport systems, such as railways and industrial canals. They include: You can also take an underground guided tour at Poldark Mine, the only complete tin mine in Cornwall open to visitors. It is a landscape full of the remains of mines, engine houses, ports, harbours, alongside towns and villages which are a testimony to the contribution that Cornwall and West Devon made to the Industrial Revolution in Britain and the rest of the world. Its global connections helped sustain the, As well as the presence of the first example of, The Old Town of Edinburgh was founded in the Middle Ages, and the New Town was developed in 1767–1890. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, World Heritage Site selection criteria i–vi, Historic Town of St George and Related Fortifications, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Historic Town of St George and Related Fortifications, Bermuda, Mousa, Old Scatness and Jarlshof: the Zenith of Iron Age Shetland, "Unesco awards Lake District World Heritage Site status", "Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City Threats to the Site (2012)", "Late survival of Neanderthals at the southernmost extreme of Europe", "Liverpool faces up to world heritage removal threat with taskforce", "QuestUAV Images Make UNESCO World Heritage Sites Perceptible For Visually Impaired People - QuestUAV News", Conservation of historic buildings and monuments portal, World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom, Castles and Town Walls of King Edward I in Gwynedd, Town of St George and Related Fortifications, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_World_Heritage_Sites_in_the_United_Kingdom&oldid=980516503, Lists of tourist attractions in the United Kingdom, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.