Places: United Kingdom

This page is about places in the United Kingdom, that aren't covered anywhere else (e.g. in Counties or Towns and Cities).  It includes such diverse entities as National Parks, beauty spots, tourist attractions, suburbs and streets.

See also Places: Rest of the World.

National Parks

Britain's first ten national parks were created in the 1950s:

		Name	Established	km2	mi2
1		Peak District	17 April 1951	1,438	555
2		Lake District	9 May 1951	2,292	885
3		Snowdonia	18 October 1951	956	369
4		Dartmoor	30 October 1951	956	369
5		Pembrokeshire Coast	29 February 1952	620	240
6		North York Moors	28 November 1952	1,436	554
7		Yorkshire Dales	16 November 1954	1,769	683
8		Exmoor	19 October 1954	693	268
9		Northumberland	6 April 1956	1,049	405
10		Brecon Beacons	17 April 1957	1,351	522

Later creations:

11		The Broads	1 April 1989	303	117
12		Loch Lomond and the Trossachs	19 July 2002	1,865	720
13		Cairngorms	25 March 2003	4,528	1,748
14		New Forest	1 March 2005	580	220
15		South Downs	12 November 2009	1,641	634

As the above table shows, the Cairngorms is by far Britain's largest national park – just slightly less than twice the size of the previous largest, which was the Lake District. The smallest is the Broads, which was the first of the later creations – less than half the size of the Pembrokeshire Coast, which was the previous smallest.

Numbers 3, 5 and 10 are in Wales; numbers 12 and 13 are in Scotland. All the rest are in England.

Other

Lagoon behind Chesil Beach, Dorset, where mute swans have bred for at least 600 years			Abbotsbury
Garden and watermill at Temple Sowerby, near Penrith, Cumbria: noted for its herb garden and orchard			Acorn Bank
Berkshire village that gave its name to the UK's Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (established in 1950); CND organised a series of marches from Trafalgar Square, London, to it (sometimes vice versa), from 1958			Aldermaston
Low–lying part of North Lincolnshire to the west of the River Trent, south west of Scunthorpe			Axholme (Isle of)
Name given to the canals of Cambridge			The Backs
Dinas Oleu – the first land to be owned by the National Trust – is near (Welsh coastal town)			Barmouth
North of England Open Air Museum – near Stanley, Co. Durham – featuring detailed reproductions of a town, farm and colliery village of 1913; other exhibits include a working replica of Stephenson's Locomotion No. 1 (the original of which is in Darlington Railway Centre and Museum); established in 1970, opened in 1972 on the present site (named after the nearby village)			Beamish
Amusement complex in Manchester, opened in 1836: included a zoo, exhibition hall, greyhound stadium (from 1926) and speedway stadium (from 1928); all closed between 1977 and 1987 – the greyhound and speedway stadium were replaced, the latter being the UK's National Speedway Stadium and still home to the Aces; name shared with (among others) areas of Doncaster and Wakefield, which give their names to the stadia used by the respective football and rugby league clubs (Doncaster Rovers moved to a new stadium in 2006)			Belle Vue
English municipal park on which New York's Central Park was based			Birkenhead Park
Heavily industrialised area, bordering Birmingham to the west			Black Country
Britain's most–visited theme park, and Europe's second – over twice as many visitors as Alton Towers (2007)			Blackpool Pleasure Beach
The two Greater Manchester boroughs that don't border the City of Manchester			Bolton
			Wigan
Birmingham's 'factory in a garden village', founded 1879 by George and Richard Cadbury			Bourneville
Popular beauty spot in the North Downs of Surrey: featured in the 2012 Olympic road cycling race			Box Hill
England and Wales's first new National Park since the 1950s – established 1989			The Broads
Scotland's second national park; Britain's largest and most northerly (established 2003)			Cairngorms
"Resort" in Newport, Monmouthshire: has hosted the Ryder Cup (2010) and a NATO summit meeting (2014)			Celtic Manor
Lancashire town: gave its name to a currant–filled pastry cake (said to be less sweet than the better–known Eccles cake, and made with shortcrust pastry as opposed to flaky)			Chorley
Manchester suburb (since 1974 part of Trafford Metropolitan Borough): gave its name to one of Europe's largest sewage works, where the global standard Activated Sludge Process was invented in 1914			Davyhulme
Town in north–east Scotland: Rocco, son of Madonna and Guy Ritchie, was christened in its cathedral in 2000 on the day before their wedding in nearby Skibo Castle			Dornoch
Area of Nottinghamshire, near Worksop, named for the four or five ducal seats that it contained, in close proximity to each other			The Dukeries
Town formerly in Lancashire, now part of Salford metropolitan borough: gave its name to a currant–filled pastry cake			Eccles
Visitor attraction near St. Austell, Cornwall, conceived by Tim Smit and opened in 2001: several domes, each emulating a different natural environment and housing plants from around the world			Eden Project
Naval base on the Firth of Clyde: the Royal Navy's headquarters in Scotland and the home of the submarines that carry Britain's nuclear weapons			Faslane
One of Scotland's 32 modern 'council areas' – between the Firths of Tay and Forth: widely held to have been one of the major Pictish kingdoms, and still commonly known in Scotland as the Kingdom of ...			Fife
Peninsula (and its surrounding area), now part of Cumbria – an exclave of Lancashire, prior to 1974			Furness
The only UNESCO world heritage site in Northern Ireland (designated in 1986)			Giant's Causeway
Scattered community on the Sound of Sleat, in the Highlands of Scotland; includes the village of Kirkton; best known to outsiders for the world's last hand–operated turntable ferry, serving Kylerhea on the Isle of Skye			Glenelg
The highest point on England's south coast (191m, 627ft); between Bridport and Charmouth, Dorset – part of the Jurassic Coast			Golden Cap
Sussex estate of the Dukes of Richmond, where Rolls–Royce cars have been built since 2003 when BMW bought the rights to the Rolls–Royce Cars name			Goodwood
Greater Manchester's largest park, and the largest municipal park in Western Europe; sold to Manchester City Council in 1902 by the Earl of Wilton; Pope John Paul II held a mass there in 1982			Heaton Park
Estate near Megavissey, Cornwall, where the Tremayne family created extensive gardens from the mid–18th century; neglected after the First World War, the gardens were restored in the 1990s on the initiative of Dutch–born businessman Tim Smit, who later conceived and created the Eden Project. The restoration was covered in several popular television programmes and books			Heligan
Castle in (East) Sussex near which the Royal Greenwich Observatory was sited from 1948 until 1990 (when it moved to Cambridge; it closed in 1998)			Herstmonceux
Royal park in the centre of Edinburgh: features include Arthur's Seat, Salisbury Crags, Samson's Ribs (a formation of columnar basalt, reminiscent of the Giant's Causeway) and St. Margaret's Loch (formed artificially in 1856 as part of Prince Albert's plans for improving the area surrounding the royal palace); a.k.a. King's Park or Queen's Park (depending on the gender of the reigning monarch)			Holyrood Park
Runs between Liverpool's two cathedrals			Hope Street
Self–governing dependency in the British Isles: not a member of the UK, EU or Commonwealth; divided into six Sheadings			Isle of Man
Zoo set up by Gerald Durrell to help conserve endangered species			Jersey
England's only natural UNESCO World Heritage Site: coastline from Orcombe Point (near Exmouth, Devon) to Old Harry Rocks (near Swanage, Dorset)			Jurassic Coast
Europe's largest man–made woodland (Northumberland)			Kielder Forest
Area of Liverpool, associated with Ken Dodd			Knotty Ash
Wiltshire village owned almost entirely by the National Trust; includes an Abbey, founded 1232, home to the photographic pioneer William Fox Talbot (b. 1800)			Lacock
Britain's largest National Park, until the Cairngorms became one (still the largest in England, and bigger than any in Wales)			Lake District
Known 'in ancient geography' as Bolerium			Land's End
Commercially–based theme park near Windsor, Berkshire (also in Denmark, Germany and USA); 'Discovery Centre' opened in Manchester in 2010			Legoland
Island in the Bristol Channel, Britain's first Marine Nature Reserve (1986)			Lundy Island
Scotland's first national park (established 2002)			Loch Lomond and the Trossachs
Wetland nature reserve on the Lancashire coastal plain (near Burscough): opened to the public in 1975 by Sir Peter Scott			Martin Mere
Shopping complex between Sheffield and Rotherham – opened 1990			Meadowhall
Mixed–use property development at Salford Quays, Greater Manchester (on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal) – principal tenant is the BBC, others include Granada TV			MediaCityUK
Not a national park, but granted equivalent status by act of Parliament in 1988			Norfolk (Suffolk) Broads
High security prison on the Isle of Wight			Parkhurst
Britain's first National Park (1951)			Peak District
The smallest of Britain's original ten National Parks (those created in the 1950s); the Broads (created in 1988, but not strictly a National Park) and New Forest (2002) are smaller; the only one designated primarily because of its coastline			Pembrokeshire Coast
Site of the UK's Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (Wiltshire)			Porton Down
Model town on the Wirral, founded 1888 by Lord Leverhulme			Port Sunlight
Main street in Edinburgh, overlooked by the Sir Walter Scott memorial			Princes Street
Name given to the area of West Yorkshire between Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield – after its most famous specialised agricultural product			Rhubarb Triangle
Name given to a succession of streets forming the main thoroughfare of Edinburgh's Old Town, from the Castle to Holyrood Palace			Royal Mile
Memorials to John F. Kennedy and the men and women of Commonwealth air forces who died during World War II (as well as Magna Carta) can be found at			Runnymede
Civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester – belonged to the West Riding of Yorkshire until local government reorganisation of 1974; includes the villages of Diggle, Delph, Uppermill, Greenfield			Saddleworth
The only Merseyside borough that doesn't adjoin the City of Liverpool			St. Helens
Junction between the A1 and the A66 (North Yorkshire)			Scotch Corner
Garden near Tunbridge Wells, in Kent, created by Harold Nicholson and Vita Sackville–West			Sissinghurst
National Park spanning parts of Hampshire and Sussex – including Beachy Head – established in 2009			South Downs
Buckinghamshire village that gave its name to the hospital which includes the National Spinal Injuries Centre; pioneering rehabilitation work carried out there by Sir Ludwig Guttmann led to the development of the Paralympic Games; the National Centre for Disability Sport – an extensive sports complex – is adjacent			Stoke Mandeville
Popular beauty spot straddling the river Wye, named after a 17th–century sheriff of Herefordshire			Symonds Yat
Place in the Peak District National Park where Cheshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire meet			Three Shire Heads
Scenic area of the Achray Forest, Perthshire, between Lochs Achray and Katrine – now part of a national park, along with Loch Lomond			The Trossachs
Gravitational centre of the United Kingdom (including offshore islands) – according to the Ordnance Survey (cited by Wikipedia): near Brennand Farm, 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) north of the village of Dunsop Bridge, Lancashire			Whitendale Hanging Stones
The nuclear processing site at Sellafield, Cumbria, was known from 1947 to 1981 as (Sellafield was the name of the Royal Ordnance Factory that previously occupied the site; the nearest village is Seascale)			Windscale
Small, scattered settlement at the head of the Longdendale valley in Derbyshire (formerly Cheshire): gives its name to a reservoir, the tunnel that carried the original railway line from Manchester to Sheffield, and the pass by which the A628 road crosses the Pennines			Woodhead
Michael Eavis's farm, on which Glastonbury Festival is held (between the villages of Pilton and Pylle, six miles east of Glastonbury)			Worthy Farm

© Haydn Thompson 2018