10 places to visit that will make you proud to be English

Telegraph

23-04-2025

These days England often gets a bad press but this 'land of lovely things', as Arthur Mee described it, has given the world plenty to improve the lives of peoples everywhere. Here, on St George's Day, are 10 places to visit that England can be proud of.
Runnymede
Surrey
On June 15 1215, somewhere in this lush green meadow beside the River Thames near Windsor, John, King of England, put his seal to a document that would become the foundation stone of liberty and individual rights for much of the world. Magna Carta was the first recorded attempt to establish basic human rights and the template for constitutions everywhere, including the American Constitution and Bill of Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Whether contemplating Sir Edward Maufe's Magna Carta Memorial on the slopes of Cooper's Hill, climbing the 50 steps representing the 50 American states at the Kennedy Memorial, enjoying the various art installations dotted around the meadows or just strolling along the river bank beside the rippling Thames, you cannot help but be moved by the thrill of knowing that the rights of man and the rule of law began to take shape right here.
Woolsthorpe
Lincolnshire
This small grey stone farmhouse set in a quiet Lincolnshire valley was the birthplace, on Christmas Day 1642, of the man who gave the world the fundamental laws of science, Isaac Newton. In a small upstairs room Newton laid the foundations of calculus, discovered how light and colour worked, invented the reflecting telescope and set down the principles of motion.
Today you can explore the humble rooms where the origins of the modern world were conceived and wander through the orchard where Newton famously saw an apple drop, inspiring his discovery of the laws of gravity. If you visit at the right time of year, you can watch an apple drop from the very same tree, which still flourishes in the orchard.
19. The Street
Crowmarsh Gifford, Berkshire
It was while living in this quaint half-timbered cottage on his father's farm, Howbery, in 1701, that gentleman farmer Jethro Tull, irritated by the slow and wasteful process of sowing seed by hand, invented the world's first agricultural machine. He experimented with his new machine on the fields behind the house and, once perfected, his horse-drawn 'seed drill' could accurately sow three rows at once, saving a huge amount of time and waste. Jethro Tull's seed drill inspired the development of modern mechanised farming and helped improve the productivity of agriculture across the world.
Most of the fields on which Jethro Tull experimented are built over but some of the first fields to be ploughed by machine survive and can be seen from the footpath that runs along the opposite bank of the Thames. Jethro Tull himself would have known Crowmarsh Gifford's early Norman church and two ancient pubs, the 14th-century Queen's Head and the 17th-century Bell. As well as inventing the horse-drawn seed drill, Tull also inspired the eponymous 1970s folk-rock band Jethro Tull.
Brompton by Sawdon
North Yorkshire
In his small workshop in the garden of Brompton Hall, Sir George Cayley became the first man to identify the four principals of aerodynamics and modern aviation design: weight, lift, drag and thrust. Using these principles he designed a flying machine which, in the summer of 1853, achieved the first ever manned flight of a fixed wing aircraft when his coachman took off from nearby Wydale Hall and flew 900 feet across the garden valley.
Brompton Hall is now a school but Sir George Cayley's workshop, displaying a model of his flying machine, is visible from the main road and can be visited by appointment. There is also an awe-inspiring walk from Snainton, further down the road, to the valley which saw that first flight in 1853.
Ironbridge
Shropshire
The world's first iron bridge, built in 1779, spans the River Severn as the earliest and most potent symbol of the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, a period which forged the modern world.
You can walk over the bridge and along the river valley to nearby Coalbrookdale to see the remains of the Old Furnace where, in the early 18th century, Abraham Darby perfected the technique of smelting iron ore with coke rather than charcoal, thus making the process easier and cheaper. Within walking distance are the remains of industrial sites that sprang up near the iron forges and various museums telling the story of how this quiet Shropshire valley changed the world.
Wadesmill
Hertfordshire
A small monument beside the road out of Wadesmill marks the spot where Thomas Clarkson rested on his way home to London from Cambridge. It was here that Clarkson, shocked by what he had learnt while researching an essay on slavery for a competition at Cambridge University, determined to devote the rest of his life to ridding the world of 'these calamities'.
This was not the first step but certainly the most significant step on the road to the Abolition of the Slave Trade, making this quiet corner of England one of the most precious places in human history.
Locomotion
Shildon, County Durham
The first journey made by the first train on the first public railway in the world began at Shildon on September 27 1825 when Locomotion No 1, built by George and Robert Stephenson, was attached to 12 coal wagons, 21 wagons fitted with seats and one experimental passenger coach before steaming off to Darlington and then Stockton with some 600 people aboard.
Railways transformed the way we lived, socially, economically and politically, connecting different parts of the country for the first time and enabling people, goods, perishable foods, letters and newspapers to be moved around quickly and cheaply.
Shildon became the world's first 'railway town' and today a trail has been created linking the various landmarks of that fateful day, including the railway workshop and goods shed and the coal drops where the engines were refuelled. Locomotion No 1 itself can be seen in the main museum along with other ground-breaking locomotives.
Greenwich Observatory
London
Greenwich sits at the centre of the world. The Greenwich or Prime Meridian marks 0 degrees longitude and divides the world into East and West, while from 1844 until 1972 Greenwich Mean Time was the international standard time by which the world set its clocks.
Greenwich was chosen because the observatory had been instrumental in calculating new methods of navigation and time-keeping and because most ships already used sea charts based on the Greenwich Meridian; in the late 19th century, over half the world's trade passed by Greenwich on its way to and from the Port of London.
Greenwich Park provides a large and beautiful green space with delightful walks and magnificent views over London, while much fun can be had stepping back and forth from East to West across the Prime Meridian.
Battersea Park
London
Sport brings the world together and while England invented many of the world's favourite sports such as lawn tennis, rugby and cricket, it is football that has become a truly global game enjoyed by hundreds of millions. It was in Battersea Park on January 9 1864 that the first football match under Football Association rules was played, rules that were eventually adopted around the world.
There is a plaque commemorating the event on the park's cricket pavilion and you can still kick a football around on or near the turf that hosted that momentous match.
Liverpool
Liverpool gave the world the most famous and influential rock band of all time. The Beatles created new sounds, revolutionised recording techniques, invented the concept album and album covers as works of art, were the first to use videos as a marketing tool and kickstarted youth culture to become the sound and symbol of the Sixties.
Liverpool has been transformed from the run-down city of the 1950s and 1960s which moulded the Beatles, but there are walking tours that visit many of the landmarks from that time including their birthplaces and childhood homes, the places that inspired songs (such as Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane) and the venues where they performed. The most famous music venue in the world, the iconic Cavern Club in the city centre where the Beatles gave their early performances, has been refurbished and still hosts live music.