We think that all of our properties are wonderful places to visit but some of them are internationally recognised as truly exceptional and important World Heritage sites.
Acknowledged by the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and ratified by 137 member states, these special places are regarded as being universally important and 'belonging to all the peoples of the world, irrespective of the territory on which they are located'.
National Trust properties on World Heritage sites
Avebury
Part of the 'Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites' World Heritage site
© NTPL / David Noton
Avebury is one of the most important megalithic monuments in Europe and is one of England's most spiritual places. The great stone circle at the heart of the site encompasses part of the village of Avebury. The surrounding landscape is rich in evidence of the people who have inhabited this area for thousands of years.
Bath Assembly Rooms
Part of the 'City of Bath' World Heritage site
© NTPL / Andreas von Einsiedel
Designed by John Wood the Younger in 1769, at a time when Bath and its spa were becoming fashionable among polite society, the Assembly Rooms were both a meeting place and a venue for public functions. Bombed in 1942, they were subsequently restored and are now home to the Bath Fashion Museum.
Cornish Mines & Engines
Part of the 'Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape' World Heritage site
© NTPL / John Bethell
Cornwall's engine houses are dramatic reminders of the time when the county was a powerhouse of tin, copper and china clay mining. You can learn about Cornwall's industrial heritage and see the great beam engines that were used for pumping water and winding men and ore up and down. No other industry has moved into Cornwall to replace mining and the physical remains of a great industrial boom still form a significant part of the landscape.
Levant Mine & Beam Engine
Part of the 'Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape' World Heritage site
© NTPL / David Noton
In its tiny engine house perched on the cliff edge, the famous Levant beam engine is steaming again after 60 idle years. The sight, sounds and smells of this 166-year-old engine conjure up the feel of Cornwall's industrial past and the mine forms part of a hugely significant landscape: a vital part of the world's industrial heritage.
Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal Water Garden
Part of the 'Studley Royal Park including the Ruins of Fountains Abbey' World Heritage site
© NTPL / Andrew Butler
This World Heritage site comprises the spectacular ruin of a 12th-century Cistercian abbey and monastic watermill, an Elizabethan mansion and one of the best surviving examples of a Georgian water garden. Elegant ornamental lakes, canals, temples and cascades provide a succession of dramatic, eye-catching vistas.
Giant's Causeway
The 'Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast' World Heritage site
© NTPL / Joe Cornish
This, Northern Ireland's only World Heritage site, is a spectacular natural phenomenon; the inspiration for legends of giants striding over the sea to Scotland. The massive polygonal columns of basalt are the result of volcanic eruptions that took place some 60 million years ago.
Hadrian's Wall & Housesteads Fort
Part of the 'Frontiers of the Roman Empire' World Heritage site
© NTPL / Paul Wakefield
Hadrian's Wall is part of a frontier known as the 'Roman Limes' which originally stretched more than 5,000km from the Atlantic coast of northern Britain through Europe to the Black Sea. The National Trust owns a six mile stretch of this magnificent feat of military engineering which includes Housesteads Fort, the best preserved of 13 outposts along the wall.
Jurassic Coast
Part of the 'Dorset and East Devon Coast' World Heritage site
© NTPL / Joe Cornish
The Jurassic Coast is England's only natural World Heritage site - ranked alongside the Great Barrier Reef and the Grand Canyon. Running from Exmouth in East Devon to Studland in Dorset, the coastline depicts 185 million years of the earth's history. Its fossils and geological features have drawn admirers and scientists for over 300 years. The National Trust protects one third of this stunning 95 mile coastline which remains accessible and beautiful.
Stonehenge Landscape
Part of the 'Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites' World Heritage site
© NTPL / Paul Wakefield
Stonehenge is probably the most famous megalithic site in the world. This mysterious and sacred place is surrounded by a landscape full of huge prehistoric monuments such as the Avenue, Kings Barrow Ridge and the Cursus. The National Trust cares for all of the land that surrounds Stonehenge.
National Trust properties on sites nominated for World Heritage status
Blakeney National Nature Reserve
Part of what is tentatively listed as 'The Wash and North Norfolk Coast'
© NTPL / Joe Cornish
This is a place of dramatic skies and wild beauty, a magnet to botanists and bird watchers with its mudflats and salt-marshes, sandy hillocks and spreading lawns of sea lavender. The shingle ridge is the first landmark for birds on the move and a large colony of grey and common seals lives here. The Blakeney National Nature Reserve includes the Point itself, Blakeney Freshes and Morston and Stiffkey Marshes.
Brancaster
Part of what is tentatively listed as 'The Wash and North Norfolk Coast'
© NTPL / Paul Wakefield
This unique saltwater common supports a huge range of birdlife including little terns, Brent geese, shelduck, oystercatchers, redshank, sedge warblers and bearded tits and is the site of internationally important populations of rare coastal plants. Brancaster is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest, (SSSI), and covers an extensive area of salt-marsh, intertidal mud and sand flats, a wide beach line and high dunes. It also includes the site of the Roman shore fort of Branodunum.
Heelis
Part of what is tentatively listed as 'The Great Western Railway: Paddington - Bristol (Selected parts)'
© National Trust / Adam Moore
The Great Western Railway between London and Bristol was so well built that most of the engineering structures - bridges, tunnels and even some stations - built for steam are still in daily use today. Part of the proposed World Heritage site includes the former engineering works at Swindon where Heelis, the new central office of the National Trust, now stands surrounded by buildings created by Brunel and Gooch.
The Lake District
Part of what is tentatively listed as the 'Lake District'
© NTPL / Joe Cornish
Around a quarter of this spectacular and awe inspiring region comes under the care of the National Trust, including England’s highest mountain, Scafell Pike and her deepest lake, Wastwater. This, the United Kingdom's largest national park has had a profound influence on many artists, poets and writers including William Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter; herself a great conservationist and one of the National Trust's most generous benefactors.
Mount Stewart House, Garden & Temple of the Winds
Tentatively listed as 'Mount Stewart Gardens'
© NTPL / Stephen Robson
Begun in 1921 by Edith, Lady Londonderry, the magnificent series of outdoor 'rooms' and vibrant parterres at Mount Stewart contain many rare plants that thrive in the mild climate of the Ards Peninsula. There are dramatic views over Strangford Lough from the Temple of the Winds which is based on the Tower of the Winds in Athens.
The New Forest
Part of what is tentatively listed as 'The New Forest'
© National Trust
The National Trust owns three per cent of the New Forest including Hale Purlieu, Bramshaw Commons and Ibsley and Rockford Commons. The forest was claimed by William the Conqueror and set aside as a royal forest and hunting ground. It is a unique landscape of woodland, heath and ancient villages that has been shaped by man and nature since the Bronze Age. In the 16th-century formal common rights were re-established that still exist.
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