20 great British wonders that – scandalously – aren't World Heritage Sites
Britain got its 33rd World Heritage Site in July, with The Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales joining the Lake District (added in 2017), Stonehenge, Giant's Causeway, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, Bath and Edinburgh, among others. But there are still quite a few glaring omissions on Unesco's list.
Here are 20 more places we'd like to see given World Heritage status in the future...
York
The absence of York, with its glorious cathedral and medieval streets, is utterly perplexing.
"Few cities in the world can rival York for history and character," writes Rob Cowen, our expert. "A picturesque riverside city encircled by a ribbon of ancient walls, York has a fascinating provenance that stretches back 2,000 years. Roman emperors were crowned here, William ‘Braveheart’ Wallace’s head decorated its battlements and cannonball scars from the English Civil War pockmark the stonework. Nonetheless, the city has aged well; from the medieval stained glass of its great Gothic cathedral to the Roman roads beneath your feet, the past is delightfully inescapable.
"In an almost traffic-free centre, shadowy medieval ‘snickleways’ and ginnels run between pubs and quaint tearooms. Every turn seems to reveal another historic site or lovely view, but among the finery of ancient sandstone churches and the cobbled alleyways you’ll find a buzzing city centre where chic boutiques and big brand retailers jostle for space with cafes, galleries and delis. One of Britain’s oldest and greatest racecourses sits on the fringes of the city and there’s a wealth of museums, theatres, attractions and restaurants here. This British Heritage City is also the perfect base for exploring Yorkshire’s moors, dales, market towns and coast."
St Paul's Cathedral
It seems odd that Canterbury Cathedral and Durham Cathedral are recognised by Unesco, but not St Paul's – perhaps the most recognisable building in the country and Wren's masterpiece. Most people know about the Whispering Gallery; fewer know that the mosaic floor of its crypt was built by female prisoners from Woking Gaol, that Martin Luther King gave a sermon there in 1964, or that it would have been completely destroyed had a Nazi bomb that struck it in 1940 not been defused in time. A suffragette plot to blow up the Bishop's throne in St Paul's was also foiled in 1913.
Hampton Court Palace
The country’s greatest remaining Tudor palace, according to the historian Suzannah Lipscomb. She adds: "It was one of Henry VIII’s favourites. He acquired it when Cardinal Thomas Wolsey fell from grace in 1529, and he spent £60,000 extending it over 10 years – roughly equivalent to £19 million today.
"Your first sight will be the Great Gatehouse built by Thomas Wolsey in 1522, lowered three centuries later from its original five storeys. It leads into a huge courtyard, Base Court, which was designed to house visiting guests and ambassadors in lavish luxury. Look out for the wine-fountain modelled on one depicted in a painting of the Field of Cloth of Gold — and Henry VIII’s astronomical clock in the adjacent Clock Court, which shows the sun orbiting the earth.
"In the Great Hall, beneath the magnificent hammerbeam ceiling, hang the priceless Abraham tapestries, commissioned by Henry VIII in the 1540s. They signify that, like Abraham, Henry saw himself as a patriarch, making a new covenant with God and being granted, in return, a son and heir late in life. These tapestries were woven with threads of real gold and silver; now tarnished by age, they would have glittered dazzlingly in the Tudor candlelight."
The Peak District
If the Lake District is deserving of World Heritage Status, then what of the Peak District?
Joanna Symons writes: "Kinder Scout and the high moorland of the Dark Peak are the images that come to mind when you think of the Peak District. But it’s the region's green roller-coaster hills studded with sheep and the steep valleys dropping to splashing rivers and streams that are every bit as beautiful."
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
Considering the historic might of the British Navy, it seems odd that Portsmouth Historic Dockyard (nor Historic Dockyard Chatham in Kent) are listed by Unesco.
It is the home of the Royal Naval Museum, as well the wreck of the Mary Rose (sunk in battle in 1545), HMS Victory (Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar), and the Victorian warship HMS Warrior.
Windsor Castle
Bizarrely, Blenheim Palace is listed by Unesco, but not Windsor Castle. While the former is the birthplace and ancestral home of Winston Churchill, and undoubtedly grand, the latter is unrivalled in scale and has hosted the UK's reigning monarch since the days of Henry I. St George's Chapel, contained within, was the site of numerous royal weddings and is the final resting place of a clutch of kings and queens, including Henry VIII and Charles I.
Iona
Few places in Britain have such remarkable spiritual connections; it is the place where St Columba brought Christianity to Scotland. Its Abbey holds the sacred remains of 60 Scottish, Irish and Norwegian kings, and the views are good for the soul.
Portmeirion
It might look like a slice of Tuscany, but this is actually the Welsh village of Portmeirion.
Marcel Theroux visited a few years back for Telegraph Travel. "It may be the oddest holiday village on earth; a dreamlike place which, in spite of its small size, is somehow capable of displacing reality," he said. "There are odd structures everywhere you look: a columned rotunda, domes, and a big tower that wouldn’t be out of place on a Tuscan hillside.
"Although it looks old, Portmeirion is a 20th-century folly, constructed between 1925 and 1976 by the architect Clough Williams-Ellis, an anti-modernist with eccentric taste and a fondness for tradition. He designed it as a kind of polemic in stone, an argument against the tyranny of function."
Lincoln
Few places in Britain boast such a magnificent medieval centre. From its Norman castle (home to one of four original copies of the Magna Carta) and its enormous cathedral (once the world's tallest structure) narrow cobbled streets and overhanging houses tumble down the hill to the newer town below. "This could almost be a Tuscan hill-town, the untouched centro storico above, the new town below," says Gail Simmons.
"The link with Italy is not as spurious as it sounds. Before it was one of England's great medieval centres, Lincoln was known as Lindum Colonia. It was designated a retirement home for Roman veterans of the Second Legion, and you can still see an impressive tract of wall, an archway and a fragment of the forum."
Snowdonia National Park
The loftiest mountain in Wales and the third highest in the UK, Snowdon is easily conquerable and the views from the top are well worth the effort. However, if you really can’t be bothered to schlep to the top on foot, there’s a railway that will do the hard work for you.
Snowdonia National Park, the UK's third (announced in 1951, after the Lake District and the Peak District), is also home to the iconic narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway, which runs from the harbour at Porthmadog to the slate mining town of Blaenau Ffestiniog.
Warwick Castle
One of Britain's finest castles, according to the historian and broadcaster Dan Jones. He adds: "The first thing I was told on arrival at Warwick castle was not to crawl into the medieval dungeon known as the oubliette, because it was damp, cold and possibly dangerous. Obviously I went straight to the oubliette and crawled in. They were right - it was rank.
The rest of the castle, however, is stunning, and throws you successively into the days of William the Conqueror, the Wars of the Roses and the Civil War. In some rooms you can still see graffiti made by 17th-century prisoners carving their names and family crests into the stone walls. The battlements are in as splendid shape as the gardens; so too are the apartments that were occupied by the Greville family until they sold it in mid-20th century. Now the place is bouncing with Horrible History stalls, archery and hawking demonstrations, a giant catapult that shoots fireballs and a new hi-tech attraction called the Time Tower. As well as being historically fascinating, it's one of the best family days out in England."
Blackpool
Few places sum up the great British seaside - the good and the not so good - quite like Blackpool.
"At Blackpool’s Pleasure Beach, the Big One is like going over the Andes in a coal scuttle," wrote Anthony Peregrine for Telegraph Travel. "A jet-propelled coal scuttle. There are piers and slot machines, award-winning double burger outlets and all-you-can-eat pizza restaurants – for a population that might (Lord knows, it’s none of my business) better profit from a least-you-can-eat salad bar. Popular culture is popular for a reason. There was a three-hour wait for the Big One when I was through.
"Real popularity, though, sometimes embarrasses clever people within local authorities. In line with contemporary mores, they like to culture up their towns, perhaps by emphasising a Victorian past. Or slotting in sculpture. Or reworking the prom. Some of this looks jolly good, but Lancastrians resist overt gentrification. Theirs – ours – is a meat-pie culture."
The architecture of Glasgow
"Glasgow remains one of the most eclectic architectural cities in Europe, with a wealth of extravagant Victorian buildings in red and blond sandstone with artistic flourishes," says our expert, Gavin Bell. "Look out for Italianate palazzo frontages, Art Nouveau masterpieces reminiscent of Gaudi, classical Greek and Roman motifs, and the lavish Spanish Renaissance style of its Kelvingrove Art Gallery."
The city's finest architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, has works scattered across the city, including the Glasgow School of Art, described as "the only art school in the world where the building is worthy of the subject", House for an Art Lover, an elegant country retreat in a public park, and The Lighthouse, the former offices of the Glasgow Herald newspaper.
Lord's
The Home of Cricket is not recognised by Unesco – which seems odd, considering the Fray Bentos factory in Uruguay is a World Heritage Site. Few arenas are quite so magnificent, and so integral to the history of their sport.
Skye
The Isle of Skye is home to some of the most dramatic scenery in the UK – but is not recognised by Unesco. The Old Man of Storr, in the north, has featured in countless Visit Britain brochures, or head to Elgol, a coastal hamlet on the island's western fringes, for a view of the Black Cuillin, which British author Alfred Wainwright described as "Britain's finest".
The Broads
The Broads straddle Norfolk and Suffolk, and cover 117 square miles of mostly navigable lakes and rivers. Created by flooding of medieval peat pits as sea levels rose, resulting in a landscape of marshes and reed beds, they’re home to a huge variety of birds and other wildlife, and you can rent boats for day trips or short breaks. The quietest and prettiest stretches include the River Thurne from Potter Heigham.
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
Four of the UK's World Heritage Sites (Henderson Island, Gough and Inaccessible Islands, St George in Bermuda and Gorham's Cave Complex in Gibraltar) are found on our 14 overseas territories. South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands deserves inclusion too, says Mark Carwardine.
"If I had one day left on Earth – and could spend it anywhere – I’d choose a particularly wild and windswept beach on the remote sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia," he says. "It’s called St Andrews Bay and, every November, it is alive with a writhing mass of thousands of blubbery, car-sized southern elephant seals. But they are merely the aperitif. Behind them, at the back of the beach, is the real show-stopper: a crush of no fewer than 300,000 king penguins, standing pretty much shoulder to shoulder and calling incessantly to anyone who will listen."
Box Hill
Few roads are revered by so many Britons as the perfect mile-and-a-half of tarmac that winds its way up to the top of Box Hill in Surrey. For cyclists, it's our answer to France's Alpe d'Huez, and became one of the most beautiful sporting arenas in the country during the 2012 Olympic Games.
For everyone else, it's simply the perfect picnic spot (in the famous scene in Jane Austen’s Emma, everybody has “a burst of admiration” on first arriving), with one of the best views in all of southern England.
Northern Ireland's Game of Thrones sites
To give our list a more contemporary feel, how about adding the filming locations for what might be the greatest series from the golden age of television.
They include The Dark Hedges, a spectacular collection of beech trees that line a road near Stranocum, County Antrim; Downhill Strand, a seven-mile beach overlooked by beautiful Mussenden Temple; and the little seaside village of Ballintoy.
St Albans
Home to one of the country's finest cathedrals, with its lost medieval art, St Albans is also the headquarters of Camra, the real ale institution. Surely that's reason enough?
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