Heritage coast


A heritage coast is a strip of coastline in England and Wales, the extent of which is defined by agreement between the relevant statutory national agency and the relevant local authority. Such areas are recognised for their natural beauty, wildlife and heritage and amongst the purposes of definition is support for these qualities and enabling enjoyment of them by the public. For England this national agency is Natural England and for Wales it is Natural Resources Wales.

Designated coastline

1,057 km of the English coastline and 495 km of the Welsh coastline, in both cases approximately one-third of the total length, have been defined as heritage coast. The goal is to conserve their natural beauty and improve accessibility for visitors.
Unlike national parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the heritage coast designation is non-statutory, and designations can only be made with the agreement of local authorities and landowners. However, the majority of heritage coast falls within statutorily designated landscapes such as national parks, AONBs and the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. These coincident designations are listed in the fourth column of the tables below. Designations for nature conservation of parts of Heritage Coasts are too numerous and complex to easily list here.
The southern coast of Wales and Devon and Cornwall in south west England have more heritage coastline per mile than other regions, including over 50% of the coast between Cardiff and St Davids, about 55-60% of Cornwall's coast, and around 60-65% of Devon's coast. This contrasts with the coasts of North West England, where St Bees Head is the only heritage coast, or the south-east stretch of the English Channel which has only very sporadic stretches.
The first heritage coast was Beachy Head with its famous white cliffs.

List of heritage coasts

England

Heritage coasts listed clockwise around the English coast from Northumberland:
Heritage coast nameCounty Defined lengthCoincident designations
NorthumberlandNorthumberland
DurhamDurhamnone
North Yorkshire and ClevelandNorth Yorkshire, Redcar and Clevelandmostly within North York Moors National Park
Flamborough HeadlandEast Riding of Yorkshirenone
SpurnEast Riding of Yorkshire
North NorfolkNorfolk
SuffolkSuffolk
South ForelandKent
Dover-FolkestoneKent
SussexSussexSouth Downs National Park
TennysonIsle of WightIsle of Wight AONB
HamsteadIsle of WightIsle of Wight AONB
PurbeckDorsetDorset AONB, Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site
DorsetDorset AONB, Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site
East DevonDevonEast Devon AONB, Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site
South DevonDevon
Rame HeadCornwall7.6 km
Gribbin Head-PolperroCornwall24 kmSouth Devon AONB
The RoselandCornwall54.2 km
The LizardCornwall27 km
Isles of ScillyIsles of Scilly
PenwithCornwall54 km
Godrevy-PortreathCornwall9 km
St AgnesCornwall11 km
Trevose HeadCornwall4 km
Pentire Point-WidemouthCornwall52 km
HartlandCornwall11 km
Hartland Devon37 km
LundyDevonnone
North DevonDevonNorth Devon AONB
ExmoorSomerset
St. Bees HeadCumbria

Wales

Heritage coasts listed clockwise around Welsh coast from southeast:
Heritage coast nameUnitary authority areaDefined lengthCoincident designations
GlamorganVale of Glamorgan, Bridgend21.7 km
GowerSwansea55 kmGower AONB
South PembrokeshirePembrokeshire66.0 kmNational Park
Marloes and DalePembrokeshire43.3 kmNational Park
St Brides BayPembrokeshire8.0 kmNational Park
St Davids PeninsulaPembrokeshire82.0 kmNational Park
Dinas HeadPembrokeshire17.7 kmNational Park
St Dogmaels and MoylgrovePembrokeshire22.5 kmNational Park
CeredigionCeredigion33.8 km
LlŷnGwynedd88.3 kmLlŷn AONB
Aberffraw BayIsle of Anglesey7.7 kmYnys Mon/Isle of Anglesey AONB
Holyhead MountainIsle of Anglesey12.9 kmYnys Mon/Isle of Anglesey AONB
North AngleseyIsle of Anglesey28.6 kmYnys Mon/Isle of Anglesey AONB
Great OrmeConwy7.1 km