Heritage Highlights: Did You Know?
Heritage Highlights showcases some of the more unusual, intriguing and groundbreaking historic places protected through this country's designation system. We hope these entries from the National Heritage List for England will excite and inspire people about our past. Even the most seemingly ordinary places often have an extraordinary story to tell.
By browsing the entries below, you might discover the history behind a building in your local area, chance upon a topic you are studying at school, or even become your own historic detective!
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Where Were Prisoners Locked Up Before Police Stations Existed?
Village lockups can be found all over England, although the design varies from place to place.
Type of Designation: Listed Buildings
Region: South East
Period: Tudors and Stuarts
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Which Teams Played in the First Cricket Match at Lord's?
Lord's Cricket Ground is famous the world over as 'the home of cricket'. Two hundred years ago, on 22 June 1814, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and Hertfordshire played the very first match at the present ground.
Type of Designation: Listed Buildings
Region: London
Period: Victorian
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How Did the Sinking of a Ship in 1707 Lead to the Invention of the Marine Chronometer?
The Scilly Naval Disaster provided the trigger for the Board of Longitude's quest to determine longitude at sea.
Type of Designation: Protected Wreck Sites
Region: South West
Period: Tudors and Stuarts
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What Can Art Tell Us About the Lives of Evacuated Children in the Second World War?
Murals found on the walls of the dining hall in the evacuee camp at Sayers Croft depict aspects of life at the camp in different seasons.
Type of Designation: Listed Buildings
Region: South East
Period: 20th Century
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What Was the 'Whig' Party and Where Can You Find Them Today?
Intriguing clues to the answer can be found in the 'Temple of British Worthies', a structure in the gardens of Stowe House in Buckinghamshire that commemorates the famous English political faction, the 'Whig' party.
Type of Designation: Listed Buildings
Region: South East
Period: Georgian
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How Did Victorian Drinking Establishments Become Family-Friendly Pubs in the 20th Century?
Why do 20th-century pubs look so different to 19th-century ones? The Black Horse pub in Birmingham, dating from 1929 and listed at Grade II, provides the answer.
Type of Designation: Listed Buildings
Region: West Midlands
Period: Victorian
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Where Can You Find an Enormous Cod?
Visitors to the North Yorkshire village of Robin Hood's Bay may wonder at the size of a collection box shaped like a cod standing on its tail.
Type of Designation: Listed Buildings
Region: Yorkshire
Period: Victorian
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How Long Have People Been Recycling Glass in England?
Before the Roman conquest in AD 43, glass was a rarity in England, but afterwards people were able to obtain a wide range of glass cups, plates, bowls and bottles and even glass window panes.
Type of Designation: Scheduled Monuments
Region: North West
Period: Tudors and Stuarts
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What Proved 'Good Luck' For Channel 4's Time Team at a Scheduled Monument in Gloucestershire?
Turkdean Roman Villa is in Gloucestershire, an area with a rich and fascinating archaeological history. The buildings were first documented in 1800, when its remains had survived above ground for nearly 1,500 years.
Type of Designation: Scheduled Monuments
Region: South West
Period: Roman
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Why Has Historic England Listed a Skatepark?
The Rom Skatepark in Hornchurch, East London is the first skatepark in England to receive national listed status.
Type of Designation: Listed Buildings
Region: London
Period: 20th Century
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Which Building Was Rumoured to Have Survived the Blitz Because Hitler Coveted It for the Nazis' HQ?
Senate House, the University of London's library and administrative centre, has generated much public debate since its completion in 1937.
Type of Designation: Listed Buildings
Region: London
Period: 20th Century
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Did Oliver Cromwell Really Ban Christmas?
Oliver Cromwell was born in Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire in 1599, and was Member of Parliament for the town for a year (1628-29).
Type of Designation: Listed Buildings
Region: East of England
Period: 20th Century
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Where Was the Only Nuclear Reactor to Be Constructed Inside a Listed Building?
The Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich is now a popular tourist attraction, part of the Maritime Greenwich world heritage site.
Type of Designation: Listed Buildings
Region: London
Period: 20th Century
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Which Medieval Leper Hospital is Still a Working Almshouse Today?
Leprosy - known today as Hansen's disease - entered England in the 4th century AD and was endemic by 1050.
Type of Designation: Listed Buildings
Region: South East
Period: Medieval
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What Interesting Flavours Did the Romans Introduce to Britain?
A great deal is known about the Roman diet from historical texts, mosaics and paintings.
Type of Designation: Scheduled Monuments
Region: South East
Period: Roman
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Where Does the English Habit of Afternoon Tea Come From?
Strolling around the gardens of Wrest Park in Bedfordshire, visitors can explore the evolution of the English garden and three centuries of landscape design before tucking into homemade tea and cake in the café.
Type of Designation: Listed Buildings, Registered Parks and Gardens
Region: East of England
Period: Georgian
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How Did Victorian & Edwardian Authorities Deal with Drunken Cabbies?
In poor weather cabbies used to make use of public houses between fares to shelter from the elements.
Type of Designation: Listed Buildings
Region: Yorkshire
Period: Victorian
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How Did Sweets & Fire Lead to the Invention of the Christmas Cracker?
On the edge of Finsbury Square in Islington sits an elaborate Victorian drinking fountain.
Type of Designation: Listed Buildings
Region: London
Period: Victorian
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Under Which 'Thatched Roof of Rusted Gold' Were the Lyrics to the Much-Loved Hymn 'Jerusalem' Written?
In Felpham, West Sussex sits a charming 17th-century thatched cottage that was the home of renowned poet William Blake from 1800 to 1803.
Type of Designation: Listed Buildings
Region: South East
Period: Georgian
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Why Would You Shake an Atomic Bomb?
Britain detonated its first atomic bomb on 3 October 1952. It was a carefully protected scientific device that needed to be 'weaponised', before the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE) could issue it to the Royal Air Force.
Type of Designation: Scheduled Monuments
Region: East of England
Period: 20th Century
