Langdale - copyright Andrew Locking

What is a World Heritage Site?

World Heritage inscription means the Lake District is recognised by the international community as an area of outstanding universal value. The Lake District now appears on the list of World Heritage Sites.

The purpose of the World Heritage List is to identify properties that have “Outstanding Universal Value”; a “cultural and/or natural significance which is so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and to be of common importance for present and future generations of all humanity” (Operational Guidelines for the World Heritage Convention 2023, Para 49).

Who is UNESCO?

This organisation considers more than 30 sites around the world each year for inclusion in the World Heritage List. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) "seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity." This is embodied in an international treaty, adopted by UNESCO in 1972.

The ambitious aim of the founders of UNESCO in 1945,  which were  44 representatives from different countries, met in London  and they set down the principal philosophy of the institution which was to encourage peace for the world. There was a need to unite nations and peoples learning from the past  and an appreciation of cultural differences  to help understand the present and create a better future. On the 4th of November 1946, 30 countries signed the UNESCO constitution. All World Heritage Sites might contribute to the fostering a culture of peace.

Cultural Landscape category

The criteria used by UNESCO for selecting World Heritage Sites are quite specific and focus on their definition of outstanding universal value (OUV). The Lake District submission was under the category of Cultural Landscape, defined as representing:

  • "the combined works of nature and of man"
  • "illustrative of the evolution of human society and settlement over time, under the influence of the physical constraints and/or opportunities presented by their natural environment and of successive social, economic and cultural forces, both external and internal".

Take a look at UNESCO's Criteria for Selection

Why does the Lake District qualify?

Continuity of traditional farming and local industry in a spectacular mountain landscape

The unique Lake District farming system is based on rearing the native Herdwick sheep. It has developed for over 1000 years in response to the upland landscape of fells, lakes, valleys and native woodland. The great beauty of the Lake District comes from the combination of stone walled fields and local farm buildings with a compact and spectacular natural landscape. Both the long duration of our farming culture and the survival to the present day of its distinctive character is considered to be of outstanding universal value.

The social side of Lake District farming is important. It includes:

  • the pattern of family farm tenure
  • the 'hefted' grazing system which allows communal shepherding without fences and walls on the largest area of common grazing in Europe
  • the survival of local dialect

Local industries based on the natural resources of the area (wood, rocks and minerals and water power) have also contributed to the unique character of the Lake District. This  is our " identity".

Discovery and appreciation of a rich cultural landscape

The early Picturesque interest in the Lake District led to changes to the landscape that were designed to improve its beauty. These include villas, formal gardens, picturesque tree planting and viewing stations.

The Picturesque movement also influenced the development of Romantic thought, principally through the writings of William Wordsworth and other ‘Lakes Poets’. They produced a new and influential view of the relationship between humans and landscape.

Wordsworth's had a sense of the dependence of individual awareness and sensitivity on landscape. This led him to propose in his Guide to the Lakes of 1810 that the Lake District should be deemed "a sort of national property, in which every man has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive and a heart to enjoy".

The key ideas of outstanding universal value which derived from this Romantic engagement with the Lake District included:

  • the possibility of a sustainable relationship between humans and nature
  • the value of landscape for restoring the human spirit
  • the intrinsic value of scenic and cultural landscape

The increasing numbers of visitors to the Lake District was supported by traditional open access to the extensive common land of the fells for walking and climbing. This has resulted in the Lake District becoming a globally acknowledged and genuinely inclusive site for outdoor recreation, personal development and spiritual refreshment. Thi s is our "Inspiration".

Development of a model for protecting cultural landscape

The important ideas which were developed by the Romantic poets were accompanied by a realisation of the vulnerability of the Lake District landscape to threats such as the railway and industrialisation. In the 19th and 20th centuries this led to conservation battles over the Lake District landscape, including the creation of the Thirlmere reservoir, which led to the development of important movements for protecting the landscape.

The Lake District is internationally important for its role in the creation of the National Trust movement, the inspiration for the designation of UK national parks and the basis for the creation of the World Heritage cultural landscape category. This is our "conservation".

Theme 1: A landscape of exceptional beauty, shaped by persistent and distinctive agro pastoral and local industry which gives it special character

Attribute

Components of Attributes

Extraordinary beauty and harmony

  • The physical natural landscape of mountains, rivers,   lakes, and valleys (tangible)
  • The physical cultural landscape in the main the product  of agro-pastoralism, settlements and local industry, including woodlands.   (tangible)
  • The variety and combination of differing landscape characters and physical attributes of each of the 13 valleys.

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Agro-pastoral system

  • Evidence, intactness, and legibility of settlements and   the agro pastoral character and function of the field systems and their   waterways (tangible)
  • Farmsteads and Farmhouses (tangible)
  • The unique practices of the agro-pastoral farming   system
  • The surviving physical and social elements of hill   farming e.g. shepherding and common gathering
  • Local techniques of landscape maintenance (stonewalling,   hedging, pollarding) (tangible)
  • Shepherds meets/shows and traditional sports (tangible)
  • Local management and governance of Lake District farming   systems, e.g. activities of breeder’s associations and commons committees.
  • Common land and the long standing and continuing   traditions of Common land management Physical areas of Common (tangible)
  • The longstanding and continuing local traditions of   Common Land management (Intangible)
  • Semi-natural habitats created and sustained as a result   of a continuing agro-pastoral systems, for example hay meadows, pollards,   wood pasture, and coppiced woodland. The mosaic of semi natural habitats   above the fell wall within an actively grazed landscape.

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Local industries

  • Ancient Semi-Natural Woodlands (tangible)
  • Traditional local woodland industries, people and skills   both (intangible)
  • The physical remains of past woodland industries,   buildings, structures (i.e. Bark Barns, Charcoal Sheds (tangible)
  • The physical remains of historic mines and quarries which   have shaped the landscape (tangible) local traditions (intangible)

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Towns and settlements

  • The English Lake District’s settlement pattern of   individual farms, small hamlets, large villages and market towns,   historically derived and functionally. (tangible)
  • Medieval buildings (tangible)
  • Vernacular buildings (tangible)

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Theme 2: A landscape which has inspired artistic and literary movements and generated ideas about landscapes that have had global influence and left their physical mark

Attribute

Components of Attributes

Early tourism

  • Places and collections associated with early tourism.   (tangible)
  • Early tourist infrastructure. (tangible)
  • The location of viewing stations, including structures in   very limited cases. The physical locations of viewing stations, including structures   in very limited cases (Tangible); The values, aesthetic ideals and   perceptions which led to their creation and enjoyment up to the present   (Intangible)
  • Other key views that form the image of the Lake District.
  • The values, aesthetic ideals and perceptions which led to   the creation of early tourism. (intangible

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Villas, gardens and formal landscapes

  • Villa Landscapes – their buildings, gardens and   surrounding designed landscapes. (Tangible)
  • The values, aesthetic ideals and perceptions which led to   their creation. (intangible)
  • Physical designed landscapes. Physical designed   landscapes (Tangible); The values, aesthetic ideals and perceptions which led   to their creation (Intangible)
  • Physical designed landscapes. Physical designed   landscapes (Tangible); The values, aesthetic ideals and perceptions which led   to their creation (Intangible);

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Sites and collections associated with the Picturesque and Romanticism

  • Residences and places associated with significant writers   and poets. Surviving buildings and burial plots (Tangible);
  • The value and significance of ideas and writings of   writers and poets (Intangible);
  • Key literary and artistic associations with Landscape.
  • Surviving landscape which inspired literature and   art.(tangible) The value and significance of the ideas linked to this   (Intangible)
  • The value and significance of ideas and writings of   writers and poets and artists (intangible)
  • Perception and enjoyment of sites and collections   associated with Picturesque and Romanticism (intangible)
  • Key associations with the origins of the outdoor movement   (both)
  • Buildings linked to early outdoor holiday movement (tangible)
  • Surviving landscape which inspired early climbing,   outdoors recreation and the early outdoor holiday movement (tangible)
  • The Romantic emphasis on outdoor activity and experience   – principally walking (intangible)
  • The open access to the Lake District Fells and lakes for   recreation. Physical access (Tangible);
  • The perception and enjoyment of a largely open landscape   (Intangible)

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Theme 3: A landscape which has been the catalyst for key developments in the national and international protection of landscapes

Attribute

Components of Attributes

Landscape conservation

  • Areas of the WH property where historic landscape   conservation battles were both won and lost (tangible)
  • The idea of landscape conservation inspired by the   English Lake District landscape and the universal value of scenic and   cultural landscape
  • transcending traditional property rights (intangible)
  • The landscape is protected for its scenic and cultural   value and is protected for the Nation. (intangible)
  • The perception that the landscape is protected for its   scenic and cultural value and is protected for the Nation by public and state   support (intangible)
  • Properties owned or managed by the National Trust   (tangible)
  • The knowledge and perception that the creation of the   National Trust was inspired by the English Lake District (Intangible)
  • Landscapes owned and sympathetically managed to sustain   our OUV by the Partnership and other landscape conservation bodies (tangible)
  • Farms and land purchased by individuals and public   subscription to protect the landscape and our OUV e.g. traditional farming.   (tangible)
  • Organisations and public participating in landscape   conservation (tangible)

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More details

The  English Lake District  is one of a number of World Heritage Sites in the UK . A Map and list of World Heritage Sites can be downloaded from the link below.

https://worldheritageuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/90050100-WHUK-Map-Leaflet-A2-Map-reduced-size.pdf

https://unesco.org.uk/our-sites/world-heritage-sites#

https://unesco.org.uk/site/assets/files/5129/ukncfswhs10v1_1_the_english_lake_district.pdf

For more details including maps and photographs, check out the 2013 Technical Evaluation (PDF).

Historic England Guidance -Protection and Management of World Heritage Sites  Protection and Management of World Heritage Sites | Historic England