871 Best Sights in England

This enormous park was enclosed in 1637 for use as a royal hunting ground—like practically all other London parks. Unlike the others, however, Richmond Park still has wild red and fallow deer roaming its 2,500 acres (three times the size of New York's Central Park) of grassland and heath. Its ancient oaks are among the last remnants of the vast, wild forests that once encroached on London in medieval times. The Isabella Plantation (near the Ham Gate entrance) is an enchanting and colorful woodland garden, first laid out in 1831. There's a splendid protected view of St. Paul's Cathedral from King Henry VIII's Mound, the highest point in the park; find it, and you have a piece of magic in your sights. The park is also home to White Lodge, a 1727 hunting lodge that now houses the Royal Ballet School.

Rievaulx (pronounced ree-voh), situated 2 miles northwest of Helmsley, is the perfect marriage of architecture and landscape, with soaring arches that precisely frame the forested hillside rushing down to the River Rye. Founded in 1132 by a French Cistercian sect (there's a 13th-century shrine containing the remains of the first abbot, William, at the entrance to the Chapter House), the abbey soon became one of the most powerful monasteries in Britain. By the end of the 13th century, it was massively wealthy thanks to the monks' involvement in the wool trade. The evocative ruins still give a good indication of how vast it once was, from the church's huge 13th-century presbytery (one of the finest examples of Early English architecture in northern England) to the imposing refectory (dining hall). You should check out the 12th-century cloisters with their (reconstructed) symmetrical columns.

By the time of the suppression of the monasteries in 1538 under Henry VIII, the abbey had shrunk dramatically, with only 23 monks still living there. The new owner, the earl of Rutland, subsequently dismantled what was left of the abbey, sending off the roof leads and bells to the king and allowing villagers to cart away the stones to build their houses. What remains is a beautiful shell of the magnificent building that once stood here. From Rievaulx Abbey it's a short climb or drive up the hill to Rievaulx Terrace, an 18th-century escarpment with a magnificent view of the abbey. At either end of the woodland walk are two mid-18th-century follies in the style of small Palladian temples.

The original 7th-century church on the site was destroyed by the Vikings, though its Saxon crypt (AD 672), the oldest structure in any English cathedral, remains. The Romanesque transepts of the current cathedral date from the 12th century, while the west front (circa 1220) is an outstanding example of Early English Gothic. The nave was rebuilt in 1500 in a Perpendicular Gothic style. Note the carving of a rabbit going down a hole in the finely carved choir stalls—it may well have inspired Lewis Carroll, whose father was a canon here.

The hot springs have drawn people here since prehistoric times, so it's quite appropriate to begin an exploration of Bath at this excellent museum on the site of the ancient city's primary "watering hole." Roman patricians would gather to immerse themselves, drink the mineral waters, and socialize. With the departure of the Romans, the baths fell into disuse. When bathing again became fashionable at the end of the 18th century, this magnificent Georgian building was erected.

Almost the entire Roman bath complex was excavated in the 19th century, and the museum displays relics that include a memorable mustachioed, Celtic-influenced Gorgon's head, fragments of colorful curses invoked by the Romans against their neighbors, and information about Roman bathing practices. The Great Bath is now roofless, and the statuary and pillars belong to the 19th century, but much remains from the original complex (the Roman characters strutting around, however, are 21st century) and the steaming, somewhat murky waters are undeniably evocative. Tours take place multiple times a day on the hour (fee), and you can visit after 6:30 pm in July and August to experience the baths lighted by torches. Wear sensible shoes as the ancient stones are uneven and can be slippery. A Learning Centre helps school groups learn about the town's history.

Adjacent to the Roman bath complex is the famed Pump Room, built in 1792–96, a rendezvous for members of 18th- and 19th-century Bath society. Here Catherine Morland and Mrs. Allen "paraded up and down for an hour, looking at everybody and speaking to no one," to quote from Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. Today you can take in the elegant space—or you can simply, for a small fee, taste the fairly vile mineral water. Charles Dickens described it as tasting like warm flatirons.

Based in an incredible historic building in a forgotten part of the city, this heritage center and tour provider, a joint enterprise between the National Trust and the Canal and River Trust, has seen 19th-century stables once used to house Birmingham's hard-working horses brought back to life. Inside the horseshoe-shaped brick building, you can learn about the history of the building, as well as how integral both horses and the canals have been to the city's fortunes. This hub for city tours—by foot, bike, kayak, and boat—is a font of knowledge for those interested in Birmingham's industrial past. The visitor center is free to visit, and there's a good café, but most people come here to book a kayak tour or take a guided tour on foot through the city. There are tours of the building itself, and these can be combined with a visit to the excellent Coffin Works museum.

The centerpiece of this family-friendly museum, housed in a refurbished Victorian building, is the Making History gallery, a giddy mix of objects imaginatively illustrating the city's history and covering everything from Roman pottery to World War II memorabilia. The geology section is thrillingly enhanced by the latest video technology, and there are also excellent ethnography and archaeological collections, natural-history displays, and works by West Country artists.

Greenwich is on the prime meridian at 0° longitude, and the ultimate standard for time around the world has been set here at the Royal Observatory since 1884, when Britain was the world's maritime superpower. The observatory is actually split into two sites, a short walk apart: one devoted to astronomy, the other to the study of time. The enchanting Peter Harrison Planetarium is London's only planetarium, its bronze-clad turret glinting in the sun. Shows on black holes and how to interpret the night sky are enthralling and enlightening, and there are dedicated shows for young children, too.

Across the way is Flamsteed House, designed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1675 for John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal. The Time Ball atop Flamsteed House is one of the world's earliest public time signals. Each day at 12:55, it rises halfway up its mast. At 12:58 it rises all the way to the top, and at 1 pm exactly, the ball falls. A climb to the top of the house also reveals a 28-inch telescope, built in 1893 and now housed inside an onion-shape, fiberglass dome. It doesn't compare with the range of modern optical telescopes, but it's still the largest in the United Kingdom. Regular wintertime viewing evenings reveal startlingly detailed views of the lunar surface.

In the Time Galleries, linger over the superb workmanship of John Harrison (1693–1776), whose famous maritime clocks won him the Longitude Prize for solving the problem of accurate timekeeping at sea, paving the way for modern navigation. Don't miss the Camera Obscura, which showcases views down to the river below. Outside, a brass line laid among the cobblestones marks the meridian. As darkness falls, a green laser shoots out, following exactly the path of the meridian line. The hill that is home to the observatory gives fantastic views across London, topped off with £1-a-slot telescopes to scour the skyline.

The city's most remarkable building is this delightfully over-the-top domed and pinnacled fantasy. Built as a simple seaside villa in the fashionable classical style of 1787 by architect Henry Holland, the Pavilion was rebuilt between 1815 and 1822 by John Nash for the Prince Regent (later George IV). The resulting design was an exotic, foppish blend of Eastern styles with opulent Chinese interiors. The two great set pieces are the Music Room, styled in the form of a Chinese pavilion, and the Banqueting Room, with its enormous flying-dragon "gasolier," or gaslight chandelier, a revolutionary invention in the early 19th century. The gardens, too, have been restored to Regency splendor, following John Nash's naturalistic design of 1826. For an elegant time-out, a tearoom serves snacks and light meals.

The hometown of Shakespeare has developed an international reputation for theater and is home to the world-renowned Royal Shakespeare Company. It’s a rite of passage for serious stage actors to pass through here at some point. Overlooking Bancroft Gardens and with views along the River Avon, the main theater building is a sight in itself. There are three or four theaters to choose from, depending on the season: the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, which is the largest and features a thrust stage; the older Swan Theatre, where many Shakespearean actors prefer to perform; and the Holloway Theatre outside, wonderful in spring and summer.  You can also visit The Other Place, traditionally presenting more experimental plays. A couple of minutes’ walk away from the main site (toward Holy Trinity Church), it has a cool café. At the main theater, you can take the lift to the top of the tower for incredible views of the town and countryside. Tours are highly recommended and take you behind the scenes to places like the main theater auditorium while set changes are taking place or (if you're lucky, as tours are not the same) to the costume department across the road.

Designed by Norman Foster, this hangarlike building on the campus of the University of East Anglia holds the collection of the Sainsbury family (British supermarket billionaires). It has a remarkable number of 20th-century works, including pieces by Picasso, Degas, Giacometti, Bacon, and Modigliani. Rotating exhibitions include big-name photography and art shows. If this museum were in London, it would be wall-to-wall crowded every day. Buses 22 (Orange Line), 25A, and X25 run from downtown Norwich. The museum was the first in the country to introduce a "pay if/what you can" ticketing system for entry to the entire collection, including special exhibitions.

Salisbury is dominated by the towering cathedral, a soaring hymn in stone. It is unique among cathedrals in that it was conceived and built as a whole in the amazingly short span of 38 years (1220–58). The spire, added in 1320, is the tallest in England and a miraculous feat of medieval engineering—even though the point, 404 feet above the ground, is 2½ feet off vertical. The excellent model of the cathedral in the north nave aisle, directly in front of you as you enter, shows the building about 20 years into construction, and makes clear the ambition of Salisbury's medieval builders. For all their sophistication, the height and immense weight of the great spire have always posed structural problems. In the late 17th century, Sir Christopher Wren was summoned from London to strengthen the spire, and in the mid-19th century Sir George Gilbert Scott, the leading Victorian Gothicist who designed the Houses of Parliament, undertook a major program of restoration. He also initiated a clearing out of the interior and removed some less-than-sympathetic 18th-century alterations, returning a more authentically Gothic feel. The spartan interior is enlivened by the remarkable lancet windows and sculpted tombs of crusaders and other medieval notables. Next to the cathedral model in the north aisle is a medieval clock—probably the oldest working mechanism in Europe, if not the world—made in 1386 (there are late-morning demonstrations). 

The cloisters are the largest in England, and the octagonal Chapter House contains a marvelous 13th-century frieze showing scenes from the Old Testament. Here you can also see one of the four original copies of the Magna Carta, the charter of rights the English barons forced King John to accept in 1215; it was sent here for safekeeping in the 13th century.

There are bookable tours of the Tower (332 steps up) and the Library (which dates from 1445 and has more than 10,000 books, some 800 years old), as well as free tours of the floor monuments, the stained glass windows, and the Stonemasonry Works, where you can view stone carvers at work. For a peaceful break, the café in the cloister serves freshly baked cakes and pastries, plus hot lunches.

Not far from the old-fashioned seaside resort of Hunstanton, Sandringham House is where the Royal Family traditionally spends Christmas. The redbrick Victorian mansion was clearly designed for enormous country-house parties, with a ballroom, billiard room, and bowling alley, as well as a shooting lodge on the grounds. The house and gardens close when the royals are in residence, but the woodlands, nature trails, and museum of royal memorabilia in the old stables remain open, as does the church, which is medieval but in heavy Victorian disguise. Tours give you access to most rooms not occupied by royals. The house is 20 miles southwest of Wells-next-the-Sea.

This museum tells the story of the city's residents—from the earliest settlers through the Romans and Saxons to the present—via artifacts from maritime, local history, archaeology, and archive collections as well as through audiovisual installations. Ships, including the great clippers, feature prominently, especially in the main exhibition devoted to the impact on the city of the sinking of the Titanic, which departed from here in 1912. An interactive model of the ill-fated ship and a wealth of footage and photos provide insight into the lives of the crew, many of whom were recruited locally.

Gin is having a moment in England right now, and this distillery run by two brothers is embracing the trend while combining traditional Tudor ingredients with modern handcrafting techniques. Tours (1½ hours) are entertaining and informative, with plenty of fun history woven in. At the end, you'll enter a tasting room with mini stills (there are options for making your own gin) for a tasting of a few gins, followed by a complimentary gin and tonic. Tours also discuss the distillery's rum: this is one of the country's only distilleries to make its own from scratch. The distillery is a couple of miles out of town, but the taxi ride is very much worth it. You can also shop for bottles and other gifts at the distillery's shop on Stratford's High Street.

This is the spot where Shakespeare lived for the last 19 years of his life and where he wrote many of his plays, including The Tempest. Though the actual 15th-century building he inhabited was torn down in the 18th century, the site was imaginatively reinterpreted in 2016 as an outdoor space where the footprint of the original house can be traced. Each of his 38 plays is represented by a pennant in the Golden Garden, and his sonnets are engraved into the stone paving. Highlights include a mulberry tree that some believe was given to Shakespeare by King James I and a restored Elizabethan knot garden. An exhibition inside the neighboring Nash’s House tells the story of the New Place and Shakespeare’s family life within it, and the house's roof terrace provides views of the gardens. Nash’s House was once home to Thomas Nash, the husband of Shakespeare’s granddaughter, Elizabeth Hall.

As much as the golden hamstone (a type of limestone) exterior, majestic tower, and fine flying buttresses impress, the glory of Sherborne Abbey is the delicate 15th-century fan vaulting that extends the length of the soaring nave and choir. Some features from the original 8th-century cathedral, like a Saxon doorway in the northwest corner, still remain. If you're lucky, you might hear "Great Tom," one of the heaviest bells in the world, pealing out from the bell tower. Free guided tours lasting about an hour are offered from April through November on Tuesday and Thursday (10:30 am) and Wednesday and Friday (2 pm); tours are also offered Saturday (10:30 am) and Sunday (11:15 am) from early July through early September. From December through March, tours need to be made by prior arrangement.

The original 13th-century Sherborne Castle was demolished in the English Civil War, at which point this house, built by Sir Walter Raleigh on the site of an adjacent early Tudor hunting lodge, acquired the name. Raleigh made it his home for 10 years, adding the four hexagonal turrets topped with heraldic beasts in 1600. Sir John Digby acquired the house in 1671, adding four wings to create the current "H" shape. The castle's interiors cover a variety of periods, including Tudor, Jacobean, and Georgian. The Victorian Gothic rooms are notable for their splendid plaster ceiling moldings. Free one-hour tours are available with booked timed slot. After admiring the extensive collections of Meissen and Asian porcelain, stroll around the lake and 45 acres of landscaped grounds (a designated English Heritage Grade I site), the work of Capability Brown. The house is less than a mile southeast of town.

An industrial relic that lay empty for years, this old flax mill turned malting floor has been restored and transformed into a lively, interactive attraction where visitors can learn about the history of the building and its 19th-century heyday, when it employed up to 800 locals, through the Industrial Revolution, its reinvention as a malting floor in the early 20th century, and its rebirth. Floor malting is a traditional, now less-used malting process during which wet grain is put on the floor to germinate. The building itself is remarkable; it's known as the "grandfather of skyscrapers" because it was the world's first multistory iron-framed building, soaring five stories high, no mean feat in 1797. For an extra price per tour, you can book a behind-the-scenes or tower tour. The excellent café on-site can be visited without paying admission and often hosts music and events, adding to the general buzz of the site. Parking is limited, but the site is quite accessible by other means, listed on the website.

One of the world's most famous gardens, unpretentiously beautiful and quintessentially English, Sissinghurst rests deep in the Kentish countryside. The gardens, with their many different themed "rooms," were laid out in the 1930s around the remains of part of a moated Tudor castle by writer Vita Sackville-West (one of the Sackvilles of Knole, her childhood home) and her husband, diplomat Harold Nicolson. Their relationship was loving but complicated, as both had a string of extramarital same-sex affairs; Vita, famously, had a decade-long romance with Virginia Woolf.

Climb the tower for a wonderful overview of the gardens—as well as a peek inside Vita's study en route—then descend to see them up close. There's the stunning White Garden, filled with snow-color flowers and silver-gray foliage; the herb and cottage gardens, which showcase Sackville-West's encyclopedic knowledge of plants; the Delos Garden, which brings a slice of the Mediterranean to the heart of Kent; and other spaces. As well as the gardens, there are woodland and lake walks all around, making it easy to spend a half day or more here.

If you love it so much you want to stay, you can—the National Trust rents the three-bedroom Priest's House on the property for a minimum stay of three nights; prices start at around £1,000 and rise significantly higher in midsummer. See the National Trust website (but you'll need to book well ahead).

Sissinghurst Castle Garden is 16 miles east of Tunbridge Wells on the A262.

One of Britain's most complete medieval castles, built by the Normans in 1090 and largely unaltered since the 17th century, still has its original kitchen, great hall, and main bedroom. Following the Battle of Marston Moor during the Civil War, it was the only remaining Royalist stronghold in the north of England, yielding in 1645 but only after a three-year siege. So sturdy was the squat little fortification with its rounded battlements (in some places the walls are 12 feet thick) that Oliver Cromwell ordered the removal of the castle roofs. Thanks to a special Act of Parliament, the castle's owner, Lady Anne Clifford, was eventually allowed to replace the roofs but only with the stipulation that they not be strong enough to withstand cannon fire. The Act was repealed in the 1970s to permit repairs at long last. A yew tree planted in the central Tudor courtyard more than 300 years ago by Lady Anne herself to mark the castle's recovery from its Civil War damage is still flourishing.

It's worth a stop to take in the peaceful River Alde location of this cultural center, which has nine art galleries and crafts shops in distinctive large brick buildings once used to malt barley. There's also a café and tearoom, as well as a farmers' market on the first Saturday of the month, a major food festival in September, and a Benjamin Britten festival in October. Leisurely 45-minute river cruises (£15) leave from the quayside in spring and summer. From the Maltings, you can stroll out along an elevated trail through some reed marshes for beautiful views—just watch for uneven ground.

Three miles south of Broadway and 13 miles northeast of Cheltenham, Snowshill is one of the most unspoiled of all Cotswold villages. Snuggled beneath Oat Hill, with little room for expansion, the hamlet is centered on an old burial ground, the 19th-century St. Barnabas Church, and Snowshill Manor, a splendid 17th-century house that brims with the collections of Charles Paget Wade, gathered between 1919 and 1956. Over the door of the house is Wade's family motto, Nequid pereat ("Let nothing perish"). The rooms are bursting with Tibetan scrolls, spinners' tools, ship models, Persian lamps, and bric-a-brac; the Green Room displays 26 suits of Japanese samurai armor. Outside, an imaginative terraced garden provides an exquisite frame for the house. Admission is by timed ticket for a two-hour slot, but you cannot prebook; afternoons are less busy.

Occupying a Victorian farmhouse and a 14th-century abbey tithe barn, this museum tells the story of life in Somerset throughout the ages. Exhibits in the six galleries illustrate 19th-century farming practices and daily life using sound recordings and projections as well as an array of tools and domestic objects. The barn, more than 90 feet long, once stored the one-tenth portion of the town's produce that was owed to the church and now holds exhibitions. Soups and crusty sandwiches are available at the Grain Store Café, which has tables in the yard. The grounds also contain an apple cider orchard, as well as a scenic footpath up to the Tor, which is ½-mile east.

The area's most exciting cavern has 106 slippery steps leading down to tunnels blasted out by 19th-century lead miners. You transfer to a small boat for the claustrophobic ¼-mile trip through an illuminated access tunnel to the cavern itself. At this point you're 600 feet underground, with views down into the so-called Bottomless Pit, which is filled with water. An on-site shop sells items made of Blue John, a mineral found nowhere else in the world.

On view in the harbor is the first iron ship to cross the Atlantic. Built by the great English engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1843, it remained in service until 1970, first as a transatlantic liner and ultimately as a coal storage hulk. Everything from the bakery to the officers' quarters comes complete with sounds and smells of the time, and there are even shadowy glimpses of rats in the galley. You can try on typical garments of the time, descend into the ship's dry dock for a view of the hull and propeller, and climb the ship's rigging (daily between April and October and during school vacations, or weekends at other times; £12).

Your entry ticket also admits you to the Dockyard Museum, an engrossing overview of the ship's history, and to Being Brunel, a separate exhibition dedicated to the life of Isambard Brunel. A short walk east along the harborside from here will bring you to a replica of the Matthew, the tiny craft that carried John Cabot to North America in 1497, moored here when it is not cruising up and down the river or sailing on the high seas. Standard tickets are valid for one year.

Originally founded in 1123 as part of an Augustinian monastery, this is one of the oldest churches in London and one of the city's few surviving Norman buildings. Although much of the church has been destroyed or demolished over the centuries, with restoration only beginning in the mid-19th century (it even saw use as a stable and a factory in the interim), it nevertheless remains perhaps the best preserved example of Romanesque architecture in London. Most notable are the 13th-century arch with a half-timbered gatehouse at the entrance and the fine Romanesque chancel, apse, and triforium at the east end of the interior. The artist William Hogarth was baptized in the font, which dates back to 1404. The redolent atmosphere has made it a favorite filming location, and you can see it in The Other Boleyn Girl, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Shakespeare in Love, to name just a few.

On a hilltop west of the town center, this church designed by George Steuart, the architect of Attingham Park, is one of England’s most distinctive ecclesiastical buildings. Completed in 1792, the round Georgian church is surmounted by a tower that is in turn square, octagonal, and circular, as well as topped by a dome. When built, it provoked riots among townsfolk averse to its radical style. The interior has a fine Venetian east window and a brass Arts and Crafts pulpit. Check the website for information about free weekly concerts Friday at 12:30 pm.

Work on one of the region's most remarkable churches was started just before the Reformation. The doors underneath the ruined archways outside (remnants of a much older church) contain a series of mysterious symbols—actually a coded message left by Catholic sympathizers of the time. The striking interior contains a mini-museum of treasures, including an ancient wall painting of the Virgin Mary in one of the rear chapels, a 14th-century chest, and an extraordinary series of florid memorial stones on the nave wall opposite the main entrance. A unique feature of the church is that its bells are rung from a cage in the graveyard; this was erected as a temporary measure, pending the construction of a tower in 1531 that was never completed.

Just across the road from Arundel Cathedral is another equally impressive—and equally oversize—religious building. This 14th-century parish church, built on the site of a far older priory, was almost certainly the work of Henry Yeveley and William Wynford, who also contributed to Canterbury and Winchester cathedrals. Interestingly, the church is today divided into two separate parts according to denomination: the main part, the nave, is Protestant, while the chancel is Catholic. The latter, seized during the Reformation, is where the dukes of Norfolk are buried. Wander around to see some of the decorative highlights, including the remarkable stone pulpit, the unusually large Royal Coat of Arms, and some surviving fragments of medieval wall paintings.

This 13th-century fortified manor house built by a wealthy merchant is among the finest of its kind in England. Inside the main hall, the wooden cruck roof and timber staircase (a rare survival) demonstrate state-of-the-art building methods of the day. Outside, the cottage-style garden creates a bewitching backdrop for the magnificent Jacobean timber-frame gatehouse, and you can climb the fairy-tale tower or take a moat walk. There's a charming tearoom, too. The castle is 7 miles northwest of Ludlow.