World Heritage
World Heritage site nominations in the UK
The UK government is responsible for submitting sites to be considered for inscription on the World Heritage List. Potential sites are included on the government's Tentative List. 26 sites from the UK have been inscribed on the list: 21 cultural and 5 natural. Others sites are currently being worked up for submission.
ICOMOS has special responsibility as adviser to UNESCO on cultural World Heritage sites. The UK's 21 cultural sites range from prehistoric sites such as the Heart of Neolithic Orkney, and Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites, to industrial heritage sites such as the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape, and Ironbridge Gorge. Old and New Towns of Edinburgh, the City of Bath and Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City are likewise World Heritage sites. London now has four World Heritage sites: Tower of London, Maritime Greenwich, Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret's Church, and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.