English UNESCO Sites Trivia Quiz

Answer:

The UNESCO World Heritage Convention was established in 1972 to recognise places of cultural or natural heritage significance around the world. The UK signed up to the Convention in 1984. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) was formed in 1945 as part of the United Nations.

Working from the top down, the first English site is the Roman defensive fortification known as Hadrian's Wall. Roman emperor Hadrian came to power in 117 CE and started building the stone wall in 122 CE. It was 117 km (73 mi) long and possibly as high as 3.7 m (12 ft). It was built partly to slow down barbarians raiding from the north and may also have served as a way of controlling population movement northwards. It was manned for over 270 years. It lay entirely within northern England and has never formed part of the border between England and Scotland. It was designated a World Heritage Site (WHS) in 1987 and became part of the "Frontiers of the Roman Empire" WHS in 2005.

After Hadrian's death in 138 CE, the Emperor Antonius Pius built the Antonine Wall some 160 km (100 mi) to the north, beginning in 142 CE. This was a turf and timber structure including 16 forts and with 'fortlets' in between. The wall was abandoned after about 20 years. It was included as an extension to the "Frontiers of the Roman Empire" WHS in 2008.

Next south is Durham Cathedral. It forms part of the Durham Castle and Cathedral WHS. Both were built following the Norman conquest in the late 11th century. The community which built the cathedral can trace its roots to the Lindisfarne Priory, established in 635 CE but sacked during 793 CE in a Viking raid, which (for some) marked the beginning of the Viking Age. Some surviving monks moved to Durham via Chester-le-Street. The Norman Bishop of Durham re-established a monastery on Lindisfarne island.

Going south-east, Studley Royal Park along with the ruins of Fountains Abbey became a WHS in 1986. It was acquired by the National Trust in 1983, having coming into public ownership in 1966. Apart from the ruins and surviving buildings, the main interest is the landscaped gardens which were developed from the late 17th century and expanded as new landscaping styles came into fashion. Fountains Abbey was founded by Benedictine monks in 1132 but fell foul of Henry VIII's break with the Catholic Church which resulted in the Abbey buildings being sold off along with a large part of the monastic estate. One of the conditions of sale was that the site be rendered incapable of future religious use.

Designated by UNESCO in 2001, Saltaire is a Victorian model village near Shipley, an example of enlightened urban planning. It was built from 1851 by mill owner Titus Salt to house his mill workers under better conditions than the Bradford slums they previously lived in. As well as moving his business to the site, he built 800 dwellings, wash-houses, bath houses and a hospital. There was also a school, a gymnasium, a concert hall and a library as well allotments and a park, amongst other amenities. New Lanark, a Scottish WHS, was an early example of a planned settlement. This was founded in 1785 and centred on a cotton mill business.

Jodrell Bank Observatory gained its WHS designation in 2019. It ticked four of the ten categories available, all under the cultural heading. The site was first used for astrophysics by Bernard Lovell in 1945 when he used ex-military equipment to investigate cosmic rays. In the early years a number of the radio telescopes constructed contained ex-military parts. Jodrell Bank was chosen after the site at Manchester proved to have too much electrical interference (from trams).

Originally called Severn Gorge, the gorge was renamed Ironbridge Gorge after the cast iron bridge was built across it in 1779. The bridge was the first of its kind in the world. The area became an industrial centre, partly because of the easy access to raw material and partly the easy access to the sea for shipping products. The bridge, the gorge and the nearby settlement of Ironbridge were designated a WHS in 1986. The Forth Bridge in Scotland is another WHS bridge. This is the cantilever railway bridge built in 1890 rather than the Forth Road Bridge built in 1964.

The criteria that Maritime Greenwich met for UNESCO-designation was mainly the 17th and 18th century buildings and scientific endeavours of the time. The Queen's House designed by Inigo Jones was the first Palladian building in England. Christopher Wren designed the Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG), as well as various other buildings on site. The ROG played a major role in astronomy, timekeeping and navigation. In 1883 the Greenwich meridian was chosen as the international standard prime meridian until it was replaced in 1974 by the IERS Reference Meridian (which passes the ROG some 102 metres (335 ft) away).

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (or Kew Gardens) has been amassing botanical and mycological specimens since it was founded in 1759, with the collections now exceeding 8.5 million items. Another aspect of this WHS is the historic gardens which reflects different periods of landscape gardening between the 18th and 20th centuries, including the works of such landscape architects as Charles Bridgeman, William Chambers, and Capability Brown.

The WHS Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites encompasses a unique collection of prehistoric monuments in a concentrated area. Stonehenge is regarded as the most sophisticated prehistoric stone circle in the world whilst Avebury's is the largest. The prehistoric mound at Silbury Hill is the largest in Europe. More than 700 archaeological features have been identified within the designated sites. There are similar UNESCO-designated sites elsewhere in the UK. For example, the Heart of Neolithic Orkney in Scotland which includes the Ring of Brodgar as well as Maeshowe, Skara Brae and the Standing Stones of Stenness.

The Jurassic Coast perhaps should be called the Mesozoic Coast as the site covers 185 million years of geological history of the Mesozoic Era, covering the Jurassic, Triassic and Cretaceous periods. Its official UNESCO WHS name is the Dorset and East Devon Coast and it covers 154 km (96 mi) of the English Channel coast between Exmouth and Studland Bay, Devon. The geological period exposed cover times of desert, shallow tropical sea and marsh. It is known for its important fossil sites as well as coastal geomorphologic features and has been contributing to earth science for over 300 years.