In 2025, England’s rich and often surprising heritage received a significant boost as a diverse collection of historic buildings, landscapes, and structures were formally granted protected status. Far from being limited to grand castles or stately homes, the latest additions to the National Heritage List for England celebrate the unusual, the overlooked, and sometimes the controversial. Together, they tell a broader story of how people lived, worked, worshipped, defended their communities, and even played over thousands of years.
Among the newly protected sites are Second World War anti-tank defences known as Dragon’s Teeth, a Victorian ironmongers that became famous for importing Norwegian ice skates, an inter-war garden filled with terracotta gnomes, and a rare shipwreck resting deep beneath the sea. From prehistoric burial monuments to cutting-edge modernist architecture, these listings underline how heritage can be found in the most unexpected places.
The National Heritage List categorises sites according to their importance. Grade I is reserved for buildings of “exceptional interest,” Grade II* for particularly important structures of more than special interest, and Grade II for buildings and sites that are of special historic or architectural value. Scheduled monuments, meanwhile, protect nationally important archaeological remains.
Heritage Minister Baroness Twycross said the new listings reflect the extraordinary breadth of England’s story, noting that each site contributes in its own way to the national narrative. Below is a rewritten overview of some of the most striking and unusual places granted protection in 2025.
Dragon’s Teeth: Concrete Defences of a Nation on Alert
Thorneycroft Wood, Guildford Scheduled Monument
Hidden among the trees near Guildford lies one of the best-preserved examples of Britain’s wartime anti-invasion defences. Built in 1941–42, the Dragon’s Teeth at Thorneycroft Wood consist of rows of concrete pyramids designed to halt or slow advancing enemy tanks during the Second World War.
Constructed by the Royal Engineers and defended by the local Home Guard, these obstacles formed part of a wider network of inland strongpoints known as “nodal points.” Guildford was classed as a Category A nodal point, meaning it was expected to hold out for up to a week in the event of invasion. The survival of these Dragon’s Teeth, carefully positioned to exploit the natural landscape, makes them a powerful reminder of a period when Britain prepared for the very real threat of occupation.
A Victorian Shop Preserved in Time
Adams Heritage Centre, Littleport, Cambridgeshire Grade II
Built in 1893, this former ironmongers is now recognised as one of the most complete survivals of a Victorian commercial interior in England. For more than a century, the shop served the people of Littleport, retaining its original fittings, shelving, and decorative features.
What truly sets it apart, however, is its unexpected connection to ice skating. Under the ownership of John Henry Adams, the shop became nationally renowned for supplying and maintaining Norwegian ice skates, widely used by fen skaters across East Anglia. Skates were imported directly from Oslo and distributed throughout the UK, turning this modest village shop into a hub of sporting innovation. Its Grade II listing recognises both its architectural integrity and its unique social history.
A Shipwreck Like No Other
St Albans Head, Dorset Scheduled Monument
Lying 89 feet beneath the waves off the Dorset coast is the wreck of a 19th-century steam mooring lighter, known as the “Pin Wreck.” Lost in 1903, it is the only known surviving example of its kind anywhere in the world.
Mooring lighters played a vital role in maintaining harbours, handling massive chains and anchors that allowed ships to dock safely. Of the dozens that once operated across Britain’s naval dockyards, only four were steam-powered. This wreck, scattered with hundreds of copper bolts that once held its hull together, offers a rare window into Victorian maritime engineering and has now been granted scheduled monument status.
The Birth of Global Communication
Enderby’s Wharf, Greenwich Scheduled Monument
A steel gantry and cable hauler at Enderby’s Wharf stand as silent witnesses to one of the greatest technological leaps of the modern world: global telecommunications. From the mid-19th century, this part of Greenwich was central to the manufacture and deployment of undersea cables that connected continents.
The cable hauler installed in 1954 played a direct role in loading the first successful transatlantic telephone cable, which became operational in 1956. For the first time, people in Britain and North America could speak to one another simultaneously by phone. These structures now enjoy protected status as symbols of the “moon shot” engineering achievements of their era.
A Windmill That Refused to Disappear
Draper’s Windmill, Margate, Kent Upgraded to Grade II*
Dating back to around 1843, Draper’s Windmill is a rare survivor of Kent’s milling past. Built to grind grain into flour, this timber-framed smock mill retains much of its original machinery and structure.
Having already been listed at Grade II for decades, the windmill’s status was upgraded in 2025 to Grade II*, reflecting its growing rarity and excellent state of preservation. Today, it stands not only as a picturesque landmark but as a working reminder of pre-industrial food production.
A Modern Master’s Early Vision
Cobham Mews Studios, Camden, London – Grade II
Not all heritage is ancient. Cobham Mews Studios, designed and built between 1987 and 1989, was the first complete UK building by architect Sir David Chipperfield. Tucked behind residential terraces in Camden, the studios combine industrial inspiration with refined modernist detailing.
Rooflights, glass bricks, and double-height spaces create light-filled interiors while respecting the privacy of neighbouring homes. The Grade II listing recognises the building’s importance in the development of late-20th-century British architecture and Chipperfield’s global influence.
The Pepperpot That Beat the Sea
Bude Storm Tower, Cornwall Grade II (List Amendment)
Nicknamed “the Pepperpot” because of its distinctive octagonal shape, the Bude Storm Tower has twice been rescued from the advancing sea. Originally built in 1835 as a coastguard lookout, it was moved inland in the 19th century after cliff collapse.
In recent years, climate-driven coastal erosion threatened it once again, prompting a remarkable conservation effort that relocated the tower a further 120 metres inland. Its updated listing reflects both its architectural interest and its extraordinary journey through time and landscape.
Gnomes, Pixies, and Personal Expression
Tudor Croft Garden, Tees Valley – Grade II
Perhaps the most whimsical addition to the list is the inter-war garden at Tudor Croft. Created in the 1930s, it features terracotta gnomes, elves, and pixies crafted by local sculptor Walter Scott. These playful figures are scattered throughout a carefully designed Arts and Crafts-inspired landscape.
Unlike more formal gardens of earlier periods, Tudor Croft reflects a deeply personal vision, blending fantasy, craftsmanship, and harmony with the surrounding countryside. Its protection recognises the cultural value of gardens as expressions of individual creativity.
Heritage Beyond the Obvious
Other newly protected sites include a Neolithic burial mound in the Yorkshire Dales dating back over 5,000 years, a rare Victorian “tin tabernacle” church in Essex, cast-iron guideposts marking early road networks in Cheshire, and even a modernist lecture theatre block in Manchester that continues to divide opinion.
Together, these listings show that heritage is not just about beauty or age, but about meaning. Whether celebrated or controversial, humble or monumental, each site offers a tangible link to the lives, values, and ambitions of those who came before. In preserving them, England ensures that future generations can explore not just history’s grand chapters, but also its most curious and human details.