Monuments to Freedom appeal

Will you help protect our great monuments to freedom? We need to raise urgent funds for three very special memorial landscapes undergoing major restoration work in the coming months

Teenagers playing in the river at Wasdale, Cumbria with Great Gable in the background looming over the scene. — View of the Great Gable in The Lakes

14 summits, including Great Gable, were dedicated as war memorials after the First World War

Honouring three special memorial landscapes

We need your help to protect three important monuments to freedom in our care. The 14 peaks in the Lake District, gifted to us after the First World War as war memorials. Wellington Monument, built as a tribute to the great victory over Napoleon. And Runnymede, where Magna Carta was sealed. These three great monuments and their surrounding landscapes are wonderful gifts, celebrating great bravery and sacrifice. Together we can give them the future they deserve.

Did you know?

Each year 15 million people visit the Lake District's National Park
Wellington Monument is 53 metres high - the tallest three-sided obelisk in the world
Runnymede's Ankerwyke yew is 2,500 years old - the oldest tree we look after

Choose which monument to support

Rebuilding England’s highest war memorial: the cairn on top of Scafell Pike

Donate to the Lakes appeal

After the end of the First World War, Scafell Pike, Great Gable and 12 other summits in the Lake District were gifted to the National Trust to commemorate those who had fallen. In 2018 for the centenary of the end of the War, we’re rebuilding the memorial cairn on the summit of Scafell Pike. We have to raise £1million every year to carry out vital conservation work and need your help to reach this target.

Flying kites at the Wellington Monument, Somerset

Donate to Wellington Monument's appeal

We began caring for Wellington Monument in 1934. Since that time it has needed careful renovation every 10 to 15 years, an expensive and unsustainable process given its height. To return the monument to the stature that was originally intended, and make this special place a more enjoyable place to visit, we have a lot of work to do. We need your help.

Visitors exploring the Magna Carta Memorial, Runnymede, Surrey

Donate to Runnymede's appeal

This historic site of the sealing of Magna Carta at Runnymede with its priory ruins, ancient monument and also home to the much-loved Ankerwycke yew, needs our urgent help. To transform the way in which visitors experience Runnymede and continue our restoration project, we still need to raise an additional £300,000 to breathe life into our vision.

Donate to Monuments to Freedom appeal

Make a general donation

£10 could help install a rustic fence barrier

£35 could repair a metre of dry stone wall

£50 could buy one cladding stone

Or enter your own amount

Why these places matter

Scafell Pike and Wastwater in Winter with snow

View of the surrounding landscape from the top of the Wellington Monument, Somerset

Protecting the war memories on the summit of Scafell Pike

You'll be helping preserve this iconic mountain, its public access and valley paths and walls, supporting the work of our rangers and volunteers.

Celebrating Wellington's great victories

You'll be helping to save this Grade II* listed monument and transform the viewing platform with its stunning views across Exmoor and the Quantocks.

Reuniting Runnymede and Ankerwycke

You'll help to conserve the birthplace of freedom and build a new visitor area, providing space for storytelling, wildlife and 2.7km of new paths.

" No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possession, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by law of the land."

Why give to the National Trust?

As a charity, we rely on the generosity of supporters to look after the outdoor spaces in our care. Not only do our supporters help to conserve beautiful landscapes and protect precious plants and wildlife. But they also ensure that future generations have places they can find freedom from everyday life, reconnect with the natural world and make memories to treasure. Your donation will go towards this project and other vital conservation work in the outdoors at this special place. With your support, we can continue to protect the irreplaceable. For everyone, for ever.

Fundraising Regulator

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